Yogi appoints Prashant Kumar as UP’s acting DGP, Akhilesh Yadav attacks govt

Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government Wednesday appointed Director General, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar, as the acting Director General of Police prompting Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav to attack the Uttar Pradesh government.

Yadav asked the government whether acting DGP is being appointed every time because of a ‘tussle’ between Delhi and Lucknow or because of a ‘nexus’ between the government and the criminals.

Kumar will replace incumbent acting DGP Vijay Kumar who is retiring Wednesday.

“Prashant Kumar has been appointed as acting DGP of Uttar Pradesh,” a senior official told PTI.

A 1990 batch IPS officer, Kumar belongs to Bihar.

This is the fourth consecutive time that UP has got an acting police chief. No full-time DGP has been appointed after the removal of Mukul Goel May 11, 2022 for “not taking interest in departmental work and inefficiency”.

Goel, a 1987 batch IPS officer, is currently posted as DG of the Civil Defence Department and is set to retire next month.

After Goel, DS Chauhan took over as the acting DGP and retired in April 2023. Later, R K Vishwakarma served as the acting DGP for over a month before Vijay Kumar was appointed to the post May 31, 2023.

Yadav, in a post on X, said, “It seems that UP is once again going to get an acting DGP. The public is asking whether the game of making acting DGP is happening every time because of the tussle between Delhi and Lucknow or because of the nexus between the government and the criminals.”

PTI