Engineer Fired for Praising Osama Bin Laden

The employment of an engineer has been terminated by the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) due to his expression of admiration for the deceased Al Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden.

In June 2022, Ravindra Prakash Gautam, a Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO), was suspended after he placed a picture of Laden in his Kayamganj sub-division-II office located in the Farrukhabad district.

M. Devraj, the Chairman of UPPCL, issued the termination order for Gautam after a probe committee found him guilty of “engaging in an act that is against the nation and has damaged the reputation of the department.”

Last year, a video of Gautam’s office in Kayamganj, where a picture of Osama was displayed, went viral. The caption of the image referred to him as the “Respected Osama bin Laden, world’s best engineer.”

His colleagues told reporters then that Gautam used to idolise the former al-Qaeda chief as he had an engineering degree.

Gautam also accepted that the video indeed was true.
Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd (DVVN L) Managing Director, Amit Kishore, said Gautam was suspended immediately and a probe initiated against him.

The inquiry committee of DVVNL levelled several other charges against Gautam such as loss of revenue, doing direct correspondence with the MD, use of indecent behaviour with senior officers and laxity in departmental work, etc.

The inquiry committee also said that when Gautam was asked to answer all the allegations, he came out with baseless and unsatisfactory replies.

Meanwhile, Gautam told reporters that if a section of people in the country can consider Godse as their idol, then why can’t he consider Osama bin Laden as his idol.

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