JC suspended following assault on junior officer over cricket dispute in Lucknow

Six days after allegedly assaulting a junior official inside an Income tax Narhal officer in the Hazratganj area of Lucknow, Joint Commissioner of Income tax Yogendra Kumar Mishra was suspended.

The suspension order, issued on Wednesday, states that a criminal case is under investigation against Mishra, a 2014 batch IRS officer currently posted in Kashipur, Uttarakhand.

Pending inquiry, his headquarters was shifted to Kolkata under the jurisdiction of Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (CCA), West Bengal and Sikkim Region. Mishra was directed not to leave headquarters without prior permission.

The move comes in the wake of serious allegations by Gaurav Garg, a 2016-batch IRS officer posted in Lucknow, who filed an FIR at Hazratganj policy station on Friday. Garg accused Mishra of launching a violent, premeditated attack on May 29 during a closed-door departmental meeting attended by senior officials.

The incident, allegedly rooted in a dispute over the captaincy of a departmental cricket team earlier this year, reportedly involved physical assault, attempted strangulation, and an attempt to stab with a broken glass tumbler.

Garg alleged that Mishra, who was earlier transferred to Uttarakhand over similar complaints, stormed into the sixth-floor meeting hall, abused him, and attacked him in full view of Commissioner Richa Rastogi and Additional Commissioner Shourya Shashwat Shukla. Police were alerted, and Garg was rushed to Civil Hospital.

Based on his complaint, police registered a case under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including attempt to murder, criminal intimidation, obstruction of duty, and relevant sections of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

Meanwhile, Mishra took to X (formerly Twitter), claiming he was the target of a vendetta campaign led by Garg, alleging that his efforts to expose lapses in tax investigations during his tenure in Kanpur were being suppressed through police and media pressure.

He described the cricket-related dispute as a minor matter that was resolved amicably.

Source: The Times of India