India

Delhi Police Refute Viral Claim That IPS Officer Sumit Jha Resigned During Protests

By Akriti Anand

IPS officer Sumit Jha became a frequent subject of social‑media posts during student protests over the NEET exam in June‑July and later during the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) October demonstrations in Delhi against Chief Minister Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. A video circulated online that appeared to show Jha announcing his resignation as Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) amid the protests. The Delhi Police dismissed the claim in July, fact‑checking the clip and stating on July 28 that the video was “completely fake and AI generated.” In the original July 23 video, posted by the Delhi Police’s X handle, Jha urged students and youth to be wary of foreign accounts spreading rumours and reported that 480 Pakistan‑based social media handles had been identified and blocked for coordinated misinformation. The altered version claimed Jha said, “I was being pressured to lie about the student protests. I won’t lie anymore, so I’m resigning.” The fabricated clip resurfaced during the CJP’s October protest and was shared on Facebook, Instagram and X. Police officials told PTI that they had written to X over misleading posts by a user named Sayed Chaudhary, who claimed Jha had resigned. The police also sought the IP addresses of the accounts to determine whether they were operated from Pakistan. Sumit Jha, a 2017 batch IPS officer from the AGMUT cadre, hails from Bihar and is currently serving as Delhi’s Deputy Commissioner of Police. He had previously held positions as Additional DCP New Delhi and Additional DCP South District, Delhi Police.