Amethi district magistrate Prashant Kumar removed from post for misbehaving with brother of slain BJP worker

The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday took strict action and removed District Magistrate (DM) of Amethi, Prashant Kumar, from the post, a day after he misbehaved with the brother of a slain Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker. On Tuesday evening, Sonu Singh had been shot dead in Amethi over extortion. A video of Kumar losing his temper and holding the collar of Sunil Singh had gone viral on the social media on Wednesday.

Currently, Kumar has been put on the waiting list and Arun Kumar as been appointed as the new District Magistrate (DM) of Amethi. Arun is the Vice Chairman of Moradabad Development Authority.

Union Minister and Amethi MP Smriti Irani had on Wednesday evening chided Prashant. The Union Minister tweeted, "Vinaysheel evam samvedansheel banein hum, yahi prayaas hona chahiye. Janata ke hum sevak hain, shaasak nahi (We should always try to be humble and caring. We are here to serve people not to rule.)" She tagged the district magistrate in her tweet.

According to news agency ANI, Prashant Sharma, a 2012 batch IAS officer, had entered into a verbal duel with Sunil, a PCS trainee officer. He was protesting against the delay in postmortem and arrest of Sonu`s killers when the district magistrate shoved him and held him by his collar. "The district`s most senior officer is standing here. Can you show me if that man has a firearm?" Sharma is seen asking Sunil.

Later, on Wednesday night, a video of Sunil Singh was posted on the social media in which he is seen giving a clean chit to the district magistrate and claiming him to be an old acquaintance.

The Amethi Police has registered a case of murder against three unidentified people in Gauriganj. Sonu Singh, the owner of a brick kiln, was shot dead allegedly over extortion demand of Rs 2 lakh barely 500 m away from the Superintendent of Police`s (SP) office.

Sonu`s father Shivnayak Singh is also a local leader of the BJP. Sonu`s brother Arpit Kumar Singh had accused Chandra Shekhar Kesarwani, Shubham Tiwari and three other unidentified persons in the complaint filed at Gauriganj police station after which an FIR was lodged.

This was the second controversy involving Sharma in past one week. Sharma had arrived late for a court hearing in Amethi and the judge punished hin by keeping him in custody till the evening.