A senior Indian Police Service officer on Tuesday tendered his resignation from the service alleging harassment by a “few individuals”, who he claimed were influencing the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Karnataka government, The New Indian Express reported.

Director General of Police P Ravindranath – who was recently transferred to the training wing of the Karnataka police from his position at the Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement – also alleged that he was being targeted for taking action against those involved in making fake caste certificates.

“I am prematurely transferred without any public interest just to harass me, since I have taken legal action against people involved in the fake caste certificate issue,” Ravindranath wrote in his resignation letter, according to The Indian Express.

At a press conference, Ravindranath had recently announced that he was investigating some fake certificate cases pertaining to the daughter of MLA Renukacharya and some family members of a Member of the Legislative Council, The Hindu reported.

The officer had alleged that many upper caste families have obtained fake caste certificates belonging to Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes to get government jobs in Karnataka.

“I wanted to initiate action against those individuals who have taken fake certificates to obtain government jobs through the SC/ST quota,” he said, according to The New Indian Express. “I have been working sincerely and without bias.”

This is the fourth time when Ravindranath has resigned from his post, according to The Indian Express.

In 2008, he resigned after differences had emerged between him and his senior colleague BE Umapathy, who was then the additional director general of police.

In 2014, he quit the force in protest against the then Bengaluru city police commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar. He had alleged that Auradkar had framed him in a case pertaining to clicking pictures of a woman at a cafe in the city.

In 2021, he resigned citing dissatisfaction over the promotion of two of his colleagues, who he said were junior to him. He withdrew his resignation after he was given a promotion.