KATHMANDU, Feb 22: Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Ashok Singh, who is considered one of the contenders for the new police chief, is preparing to resign. He has prepared to submit his resignation after reaching the police headquarters on Wednesday (today).
If Singh resigns, DIGs Basant Kunwar, Tek Prasad Rai and Deepak Thapa will be the main contenders in the race for the post of IGP.
When the competition for promotion was going on, the police head office started an internal investigation after Singh's citizenship and age in the police sheet-roll were found to be different. According to sources, Singh is preparing to resign after the date of birth controversy became public.
DIG Ashok Singh resigns after citizenship controversy
According to the citizenship issued by the District Administration Office, Kailali, the year of his birth should be 1967.
In Singh's educational certificate, the date of birth is December 30, 1968. According to this date of birth, his sheet-roll has been fixed in the police headquarters.
However, it is said that if the birth date on the citizenship certificate, educational qualification certificate and personal details obtained by the concerned person while serving in the police department are not the same, the date from which retirement occurs first will be calculated on the basis of that date. Senior officials at the police headquarters maintain that his year of birth should be considered to be 1967 as per his citizenship.
If the age according to citizenship is maintained, Singh should have retired on June 5 2022 when he was a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), due to the age limit. He was not only promoted to the rank of a DIG, but was also presenting a strong claim to a promotion to the rank of an AIG.