Bihar top cop, who had made controversial remark on Rhea Chakraborty, resigns

Patna : Bihar police chief Gupteshwar Pandey, who had recently made a controversial remark on Rhea Chakraborty, has voluntarily resigned from his post, apparently to contest upcoming Bihar elections.

SK Singhal has been appointed as the new police chief of Bihar.

According to a news report, Mr Pandey will be contesting the election as a NDA candidate from Sahpur in Buxar district.

His application was moved on Tuesday and today an official statement has been received from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

In 2009, he had also tried to contest the election from Buxar parliamentary constituency, but had failed to get a ticket at that time. Later, following the intervention of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, he came back in service.

Mr Pandey was one of the key investigating officers in the case filed by late actor Sushant Singh Rajput's family against Rhea Chakraborty in Bihar. The case had taken a huge political twist in the state as the elections are coming in couple of weeks.

After the Supreme Court order allowed the transfer of the case to the CBI, the Bihar police chief had declared that Rhea Chakraborty "does not have the aukat (stature)" to comment on the Chief Minister, referring to her remarks in the top court about the political angle.  

"What the police did was correct, and according to legal and constitutional provisions," he told reporters.

He, however, amended the statement after public outrage, saying what he meant was that Rhea Chakraborty, as an accused in the case, had no right to criticise the Chief Minister.