KANPUR: Kanpur Police Commissioner Asim Kumar Arun on Saturday sought voluntary retirement from the service amid speculations of contesting the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections on a BJP ticket.
The additional director general-rank police officer revealed his step of seeking the VRS on his social media account soon after the assembly elections were announced in UP.
The 1994-batch IPS officer still has almost nine years of his service left.
He reportedly submitted his VRS to UP DGP Mukul Goel and Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra.
Talking to PTI over the phone, DGP Goel confirmed that ADGP Arun has applied for the VRS.
"I received the written VRS application on Saturday and have sent it to the state government for necessary action," he added.
Goel, however, refused to elaborate on the reasons behind the officer seeking VRS within hours of the announcement of the poll schedule.
In his application, he has requested to be relieved immediately, said another official who didn't wish to be named.
He will be relieved as soon as the state government approves his request, the official said.
Arun may enter politics and contest from Sadar constituency of his home town Kannauj under the Kanpur police range in the assembly election, the official said.
Speculations are rife that he would contest the assembly polls on a BJP ticket.
Arun in his Facebook message thanked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for considering him for the membership of the BJP.
He further wrote that he would try to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to incorporate people from different fields in the party.
The Kannauj Lok Sabha seat has been represented by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav in the past.
Arun's father Sri Ram Arun had served as Director-General of UP Police.
He died recently.