Top babu's wife caught in traffic, Agra cops suspended

Hell hath no fury like a top bureaucrat’s wife scorned. Four policemen of Agra would remember that slightly twisted adage for long after having been suspended for holding up the uppity lady by stopping traffic for a former UP police chief’s carcade.

The episode started when former UP DGP Prakash Singh, his IPS son and their families were going to the Radhasoami temple on Sunday morning in New Agra police station area. The Agra DIG’s PRO Premendra, a sub-inspector accompanying them apparently without any authority, instructed the police station to facilitate the smooth movement of their carcade.

New Agra police station sub-inspector Sanjeev Dube and two ‘Cheeta mobile’ constables Suresh Kumar Singh and Raghuvir Singh were promptly pressed into service. Around 11 am, they stopped the traffic to let the vehicles carrying the former DGP’s family pass. One of the cars stuck in the snarl happened to be occupied by a top UP bureaucrat’s wife. Upset over being held up, she made a video of the traffic jam and sent it to her husband in Lucknow.

Soon, phones of top Agra police officers started ringing as the bureaucrat blasted them for the mess. The suspension orders of the two sub-inspectors and two constables involved followed promptly to soothe the hurt egos of the top officer and his wife.

Agra SSP Shalabh Mathur said the former DGP was not entitled to any such protocol.