SHIMLA: Sanjay Kundu was on Tuesday removed from the post of Himachal DGP and posted as principal secretary, Ayush.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will hear Kundu’s plea against his removal on Wednesday.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra on Tuesday took note of the submissions of senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Kundu, and agreed to hear the plea.
Rohatgi said the police officer was not heard by the high court which, on December 26, directed the state government to shift him.
The top court initially said it would hear the plea during the day itself. It later took note of Rohatgi’s submissions and posted the plea on Wednesday for consideration.
Kundu on Monday had moved the Supreme Court against the state high court’s order to shift him to ensure that he didn’t influence the probe into the alleged harassment of Palampur businessman Nishant Sharma.
The Himachal Pradesh High Court had on December 26 ordered the state government to shift the DGP and Kangra SP Shalini Agnihotri to other posts before January 4 to ensure that “they don’t have an opportunity to influence the investigation”.
Nishant had, in an email complaint to the high court, alleged that he and his family feared for their lives as he was “attacked in Gurugram and in McLeodganj”. He had sought the high court’s intervention on the grounds that he “needed protection from powerful people as he was living in constant fear of being killed”.
The high court had said it was “constrained to take the matter into its hands to ensure fair investigation in the FIR after the authorities concerned failed to act”.