The election commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday revoked the suspension of director general of police (DGP) Anjani Kumar, who was suspended by the commission over the violation of the model mode of conduct by meeting Congress leader (now chief minister) Revanth Reddy on December 3, when the counting votes for the assembly poll were underway.

Kumar along with state police nodal officer Sanjay Jain and nodal (expenditure) officer Mahesh Bhagwat had met Reddy at his residence in Hyderabad with a bouquet.

Photos of Kumar with Reddy triggered a storm on social media and raised questions about potential MCC violations. The DGP opting to meet a contesting candidate out of the total of 2,290 and the star campaigner of one political party out of 16 political parties in the fray was a clear indication of mala fide intention of seeking favour, the EC said.

The election commission emphasised that such actions by the DGP could have a detrimental impact on junior officers and deemed the meeting a clear breach of the code.

Post Kumar’s suspension, senior IPS officer Ravi Gupta was given the additional charge of the DGP. “Ravi Gupta is placed in full additional charge to the post of DGP, head of police force (HoPF) of Telangana, with immediate effect, until further orders,” Telangana chief secretary A Santhi Kumari said in a government order.