Lakhimpur Kheri (UP), Sep 23 (PTI) The Lakhimpur Kheri district magistrate has transferred the Nighasan subdivisional magistrate after a purported video of him threatening a complainant became widely circulated on social media.

District Magistrate Mahendra Bahadur Singh on Friday issued an order to transfer Nighasan Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM) Rajesh Kumar to Gola as SDM (Judicial).

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Kumar has been replaced by Ashwani Kumar Singh, who was SDM (Judicial) in Gola.

A video purporting to show Kumar threatening Barati Lal of Jhauvapurwa village in the Nighasan tehsil with jail became widely circulated on social media recently.

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District Magistrate Singh on Saturday said, "An explanation was sought from SDM Rajesh Kumar following which transfer action was taken. An inquiry by Chief Development Officer Anil Singh and Additional District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh has been instituted."

The probe team will submit its report within three days, following which further action may be taken.

Kumar, on the other hand, said the complainant visited his office on September 20 with a request to incorporate his name as a "land-holder with transferable rights" over a "patta (land allotted by the government)" land.

However, he had attached no documentary evidence to prove his claim. The land records also did not mention his name and that, prima facie, indicated malafide intentions, Kumar claimed.

He said he warned the man that action would be taken against him if he could not produce evidence. The complainant was also apprised that it was his responsibility to produce the evidence.

Kumar also claimed that the video that went viral was incomplete.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)