Rajasthan's sacked IPS officer to contest LS Polls

Former IPS officer Pankaj Kumar Chaudhary dismissed recently by the state government over allegations of an extramarital affair on Thursday said he will contest Lok Sabha elections to be held next month.

Chaudhary who was dismissed on the basis of a complaint filed by his wife said that he will contest polls on the issue of women empowerment. "I know that I may not contest polls with any big promise but to me, the nation comes first. I will contest polls from one of the seats in Western Rajasthan", Pankaj Chaudhry said.

Reacting to the charge of an extramarital affair, Chaudhary said that he has moved to the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) challenging the state government's order of dismissing him. "The CAT has issued notices to the state and the Centre on the matter", he said.

The order of MHA dated February 19 was posted outside Choudhary's official residence in Gandhi Nagar.

According to the order, Choudhary was dismissed from service due to personal misconduct. The action has been taken after the complaint filed by Sudha Gupta (his wife). According to the complainant, Choudhary was in a relationship with another woman and fathered a child from her when he was not legally separated from her.

In his defense, Chaudhry had said that he had submitted the divorce papers but the department didn't further forward them.

Hailing from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan cadre IPS officer Choudhary has so far served as SP in Jaisalmer and Kishangarh. Earlier also he had courted controversy when he made allegations against senior IPS and IAS officers of Rajasthan.