IPS officer pledges to stay and serve Ram pilgrims at Ayodhya post retirement

New Delhi, Jan 16 (PTI) A senior IPS officer serving with a paramilitary force in Delhi has pledged to serve the pilgrims visiting Ayodhya and spend a “considerable” time in the holy town post his retirement from service.

Raja Babu Singh, a 1994-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, is currently serving as the inspector general (training) with the Border Security Force (BSF) at its headquarters here.

“I have decided to spend a considerable time in Ayodhya post my retirement from service and will serve the visiting pilgrims, pray and meditate and have daily darshan of Lord Ram,” Singh said.

The officer is scheduled to retire in July 2027.

His comments came ahead of the Ram temple’s consecration ceremony on January 22 in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya.

Singh said the construction of the temple was his long-desired wish and he had offered a brick for its construction after the demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992.

“I was a student at the Allahabad University and was preparing for the civil services when I, along with a friend, offered the brick as we undertook a religious trip to Ayodhya,” he said.

The officer has earlier served as the BSF IG in Kashmir, where the force guards the Line of Control under the operational command of the Army, apart from serving in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and at various positions in his cadre state.