Ambit of home guards’ salaries fraud likely to grow, fear senior police officials

LUCKNOW The ambit of the fraudulent withdrawal of home guards’ salaries by forging attendance is likely to expand as more anomalies are surfacing during inquiry

LUCKNOW The ambit of the fraudulent withdrawal of home guards’ salaries by forging attendance is likely to expand as more anomalies are surfacing during inquiry being conducted at other police stations in Lucknow as well as other districts of the state, according to senior state police officials privy to the investigation.

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They said the initial findings in the inquiry being conducted into anomalies in duty registers of home guards hinted that it was a common trend across the state of falsely showing extra deployment and withdrawing salaries without performing duties. He said the initial findings also suggested that commission was taken by the approving authorities from the home guards’ personnel who were shown present on duty.

A senior police official at UP police headquarters in Lucknow said the inquiry in this regard was already been done at the district levels by comparing the home guards’ attendance register with the General Diary (GD) of Gudamba police station that had details of deployment at the police station level. He said similar fraud was detected at several police stations in Gautam Buddh Nagar and two police stations in Lucknow while comparing the two records—home guards’ duty register and GDs of the police stations.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Lucknow, Kalanidhi Naithani said the inquiry was being conducted in all 43 police stations of the state capital after similar fraud was detected at the Gudamba and Vibhuti Khand police stations. He said nearly three times deployment was shown in the home guards’ attendance register in comparison to the original deployment at Gudamba. While home guards did not turn up for their duties despite deployment by their senior authorities at Vibhuti Khand police station, their salaries were withdrawn showing them present on duty, he added.

He said the primary inquiry suggested that release of around ₹ 4.99 lakh extra amount was approved by showing presence of home guards at the Gudamba police station in July and August, 2019. The dimension of the fraud was likely to increase if similar practice was found at other police stations also, he added.

In Lucknow, the Lucknow district commandant of home guards Kripa Shankar Pandey was arrested on Thursday after registering an FIR at Gomti Nagar police station against unknown officials and personnel of district homes guards’ office.

On Wednesday, five home guards officers, a divisional commandant, an assistant district commandant and three platoon commanders, were arrested for allegedly fraudulently withdrawing salaries of their colleagues in Gautam Buddh Nagar. The Gautam Buddh Nagar police had registered an FIR on November 13 and soon after this the salary registers were burnt on November 18, allegedly to conceal evidences related to anomalies in the home guards’ deployment.