New Delhi sources stated that a day after the Election Commission suspended Karnataka cadre IAS officer Mohammed Mohsin for checking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s helicopter at Sambalpur in Odisha in his capacity of general observer; a former Union secretary has termed it a “highly questionable response”.
Meanwhile in a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and the two Election Commissioners Ashok Lavasa and Sushil Chandra, former secretary E.A.S. Sarma has accused the Commission of not supporting the officer for performing his duty. Furthermore the officer in question, Mohammad Mohsin, is at present serving as a secretary in Karnataka’s Backward Class Welfare Department and was posted in Sambalpur on election duty.
Moreover the incident occurred while the prime minister was in addressing the rally at Sambalpur. Apparently as per report, “Mohsin approached the SPG stationed by the helicopter and requested a search. SPG demanded a document authorizing him to do so and the search was allowed, but it delayed the PM’s departure by 20 minutes.”
