Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), March 22 : The Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) has terminated the services of an engineer for praising the slain Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

Ravindra Prakash Gautam, a sub-divisional officer (SDO), had been suspended in June 2022 after he put a picture of the al-Qaeda chief at his Kayamganj subdivision-II office in Farrukhabad district. UPPCL chairman M Devraj issued his termination order on Monday after a probe committee found him guilty of 'indulging in an anti-national act that tarnished the image of the department'. A video of Gautam's Kayamganj office with Osama's picture hanging in it had gone viral last year. The caption of the picture called him '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 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 him -- 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. On his part, Gautam told the media that when many people in the country consider Gandhi ji's killer Godse as their idol, then why can't he consider Osama bin Laden as his idol? After the inquiry committee submitted its report to the UPPCL chairman, he issued his termination letter on Monday. “Him considering Osama bin Laden as the best engineer and pasting his photo in the office are signs of extreme indiscipline... Despite being a public servant, he has done an anti-national act and an act which was against the corporation and has tarnished the image of the department,” the order says.