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A video clip purportedly showing IAS officer Rinku Singh Rahi doing sit-ups while holding his ears amid a protest by lawyers in Shahjahanpur went viral on social media on Tuesday.

- NAMITA BAJPAI @ Lucknow

It sparked not only a buzz in administrative circles but also culminated in his removal from the post of SDM and his being attached to the Revenue Board in Lucknow late Wednesday evening.

The incident took place after the 2022-batch IAS officer, who was transferred to Punwayan tehsil in Shahjahanpur as SDM on July 24 from Mathura, had spotted a lawyer's clerk urinating in the open. Offended by the act, the officer allegedly reprimanded the clerk and made him do sit-ups, triggering a backlash from the lawyers, who gathered in protest and allegedly forced Rahi to do the same.

However, taking cognizance of the alleged "theatrics" by the IAS officer, the state government, in a late Wednesday evening decision, shunted him and attached him to the Revenue Board in Lucknow.