UP govt removes Amethi DM after video with kin of BJP leader's slain son goes viral

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday removed Amethi District Magistrate Prashant Sharma, a day after a video clip of him meeting the bereaved family of Vijay Kumar Singh alias Sonu Singh went viral on the social media.

On the demands of the family, Sharma had visited the post-mortem house on Wednesday, where the body of Sonu Singh (35), who was killed by armed miscreants on Tuesday night, was brought.

In the video clip that has gone viral, the DM is seen almost dragging a cousin of the deceased. Locals had expressed anguish over the administration's alleged insensitivity.

The state government has removed Prashant Sharma and put him in waiting, a government spokesman said on Thursday. Moradabad Development Authority vice president Arun Kumar has been posted as Amethi's District Magistrate replacing Sharma, the spokesman said. Tagging the DM, Amethi MP, Smriti Irani had tweeted "We should be modest and sensitive, this should be our effort. We are public servants, not rulers".