New Delhi: Over 130 former civil servants, organisations and individuals have opposed the recent appointment by of former Chhattisgarh top cop SRP Kalluri as Inspector General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau and Economic Offences Wing of the Chhattisgarh government, terming is as a “betrayal of democracy.”

Citing Kalluri’s track record of “engaging in human right violations” with “scant respect for the ‘Rule of Law’” in Chhattisgarh, a press statement signed by Ardhendu Sen, IAS (retd) former Chief Secretary, West Bengal, Amitabha Pande, IAS (retd) former Secretary, National Integration Council, G Balagopal, IAS (retd) Advisor, UNICEF, MG Devasahayam, IAS (retd), V Ramani, IAS (retd) former Director, YASHADA, KS Subramaniam, IPS (retd) Delhi, Balakrishnan, IAS (retd) former Secretary Coal among others, has demanded an probe by a Special Investigation Team probe into the “crimes” committed by Kalluri during in service tenure.

“Operations by police and security forces under his leadership have included many fake encounters, large-scale sexual violence on women, fake surrenders, arson, looting, arbitrary arrests and forced displacement. Indeed, the “Kalluri way” of handling counterinsurgency has been illegal, counterproductive and has eroded the basic trust that citizens need to have in the police and government” said the statement.

The former civil servants and activists demanded that in the interest of “fairness and justice” the government should set up an SIT, under the leadership of a retired Supreme Court Judge, “to investigate into the crimes that Mr. Kalluri has been accused of, time-and-again, while holding positions of power in north and south Chhattisgarh. As in all such cases, he should be suspended pending the results of the enquiry.”

Flaying the ‘continuation of political patronage’ in Chhattisgarh even after a Congress government is in place now, the statement read: “We ask the Congress Government, what is it in Mr. Kalluri’s service tenure that merits this treatment?,” reminding the Congress of condemning the actions of Kalluri in strongest terms, when the party was in opposition in the state.

Read the full statement