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Head constable knew about cash, was in touch with absconding ASIs
The head constable, Amrik Singh, who is posted as a ‘munshi’ at the Civil Lines police station in Patiala and is a close relative of one of the two ASIs, was nabbed from his quarters with Rs30 lakh.
A head constable, one of the five persons arrested on Thursday in connection with the cash seizure from the house of a Jalandhar priest, knew about the source and whereabouts of the money besides being in touch with the two absconding assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs) who were nabbed in Kerala a day before, the police said.
A team of Khanna police on March 29 conducted a raid at the house of Father Anthony Madasserry at Partappura village in Jalandhar and purportedly seized ₹16.65 crore but showed a recovery of Rs9.66 crore and that too from a checkpoint.
The head constable, Amrik Singh, who is posted as a ‘munshi’ at the Civil Lines police station in Patiala and is a close relative of one of the two ASIs, was nabbed from his quarters with Rs30 lakh.
A total of Rs2.38 crore was seized from six persons on Thursday after quizzing ASIs Joginder Singh and Rajpreet Singh who were arrested from a hotel in Kochi, Kerala.
The police recovered ₹40 lakh from Surinderpal Sharma of Patran, Rs20 lakh from Mohammad Shakeel of Patiala, ₹30 lakh from Devinder Kumar Kala, a Moonak resident, and ₹18 lakh from Sanjeev Kumar.
Though the police recovered ₹1 crore from Rajpreet’s maternal uncle Nirmal Singh, a resident of Raipur village in Mansa, he is at large. The rest of the amount is yet to be recovered. Surinderpalwas granted bail on medical grounds.
An official privy with the investigation said head constable Amrik was the main informer of the two ASIs during their stay in Kochi and provided them information about the ongoing investigation.
“Amrik knew with whom the cash was kept following the March 29 raid. Instead of informing his seniors, he continued to help his relative Rajpreet and provided vital information from time to time,” Patiala senior superintendent of police Mandeep Singh Sidhu said. Sidhu said the head constable was suspended and a departmental inquiry was ordered against him. The accused were handed over to state crime branch, SAS Nagar, and taken into police custody for three days.
