Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), Jul 27 (IANS): Former Bihar Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey, can now be seen in a new role.

He has donned saffron and is delivering sermons in Mathura.

He is now a 'katha vachak', reciting Bhagwad katha for seven days in Vrindavan at the Parashar Peeth in Chaitanya Vihar.

The seven-day series began on Sunday and was inaugurated by Union Minister Ashwini Chaubey.

Shyam Sundar Parashar, a well-known 'katha vachak' said that Gupteshwar Pandey had studied the Bhagwad for one year and then qualified as a 'katha vachak'.

He delivers sermons for three hours daily which is then relayed on religious channels.

Gupteshwar Pandey hit the headlines last year with his statements on the mysterious demise of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. He later took voluntary retirement from service and it was believed that he would try his luck in politics.

Pandey is the second IPS officer to take to religion in a big way after retirement.

Earlier, about a decade and a half ago, Uttar Pradesh IPS officer D.K. Panda had assumed a female identity and started calling himself 'Radha'.

He would wear a sari with 'sindoor' and a nose pin and dance in his house for hours. His wife sought divorce from him and he took voluntary retirement in 2005 when the controversy around his demeanour became the talk of the town.

He now lives in Prayagraj where he continues with his sermons and dances and calls himself 'Doosri Radha'.