Back to work, IPS officer Amitabh Gupta named head of migrants' panel

The Maharashtra government on Monday appointed controversial IPS officer Amitabh Gupta as the head of a committee tasked with issuing passes for inter-state movement of vehicles carrying migrant workers, two days after he resumed duty. Gupta hit headlines when he was sent on compulsory leave by the Maharashtra government last month for allegedly allowing tainted businessmen-brothers Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan to travel during the lockdown.

He resumed work two days ago after a panel probing the matter exonerated him, a senior official had said. In an order issued by chief secretary Ajoy Mehta on Monday, Gupta, who is principal secretary (special) in the home department, was named as the head of the committee. Gupta will be assisted by Vinay Chaube, Joint Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, and Rahul Kulkarni, deputy secretary in the general administration, the order said.

The panel will assist police authorities in compiling the list of migrants who wants to return to their home states and issuing passes to vehicles ferrying them, it said. Gupta was sent on compulsory leave for allegedly allowing DHFL promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan to travel from Khandala near Pune to Mahabaleshwar, a hill station in Satara district, despite the lockdown. The Wadhawans are under the scanner of probe agencies in Yes Bank and Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank scams.  

(Image Credits: AFP)