Kiran Bedi: On ‘long leave’

New Delhi, July 25: The officer who faced public ignominy following the revelation of his presence at the site of Jessica Lal’s murder has been appointed Delhi’s new police commissioner.

Yudhvir Singh Dadwal today edged out Kiran Bedi, but not before India’s first woman IPS officer accused the Centre of bias.

Within minutes of the official announcement on Dadwal’s appointment, Bedi put in an application for three months’ “long leave” — she is considering quitting as director of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD).

“I need time to think of my future. That is what I will be doing over the next 90 days,” she told The Telegraph.

One of the country’s best-known police officers, Bedi has accused the Prime Minister’s Office and the home ministry of overriding seniority to deny her the post of Delhi’s top cop. Bedi is a 1972-batch IPS officer. Dadwal is two years her junior.

“The backbone of the police system has been broken today. Young officers have been messaging me saying they have lost hope in the system,” an angry Bedi said in the telephonic interview.

She alleged that she had been denied the post because of her work on police reforms, which she claimed “no bureaucrat wanted”.

“At the BPRD, I saw how much bureaucrats resisted police reforms. They tried to sabotage the process. Let me tell you today, police reforms will never come in this country if things continue like this,” Bedi said.

Home ministry officials said “there were reasons” why Bedi had not been chosen, but did not elaborate.

Dadwal refused to comment on Bedi’s allegations. “I have to focus on my work ahead, on making Delhi a safer city,” he said.

He was also tight-lipped on the Jessica murder in 1999, only saying: “It’s all in the past. It’s time to move on.”

Dadwal’s official vehicle was spotted at Tamarind Court, an illegal south Delhi restaurant owned by socialite Bina Ramani, on the night the model was shot. A day after the report surfaced, he was given an internal home ministry appointment.

A joint commissioner of police at the time of the incident, Dadwal had claimed that he left Tamarind Court “well before the murder”.

His appointment as police commissioner comes after an “unprecedented” battle for the post, according to senior officers.

As the tenure of Dadwal’s predecessor K.K. Paul drew to a close, lobbying for officials hopeful of replacing him had rapidly gained pace.

While some, like Dadwal, are learnt to have been close to Paul, Bedi received support from sections of the public through posters, signature campaigns and even applications under the Right to Information Act.

Dadwal was special commissioner of police when Paul was at the helm.