DIG (prisons) demoted to senior jail superintendent rank

He was accused of biased approach while probing the preparation of power of attorney by Shine City multi-crore fraud accused Asif Naseem while being in jail

LUCKNOW The state government demoted DIG (UP prisons administration and reform services) Shailendra Kumar Maitreya to the rank of senior jail superintendent allegedly after not finding his promotion to the DIG rank in 2021 as per the genuine procedure. It was stated that Maitreya was apparently promoted without having clearance in some of the departmental inquiries pending against him in some past incidents.

Shailendra Kumar Maitreya was suspended after his role was found doubtful while being posted as jail superintendent in Basti in 2007. (Pic for representation)

A press note from the office of jail minister Dharamveer Prajapati stated that principal secretary (jail admn) Rajesh Kumar Singh issued an order regarding the demotion of the DIG on Wednesday on the direction of the minister. It further stated that the demotion was ordered in view of the state government’s zero-tolerance policy against corruption and irregularities.

Maitreya was suspended after his role was found doubtful while being posted as jail superintendent in Basti in 2007. Besides, he was accused of biased approach while probing the preparation of power of attorney by Asif Naseem while being lodged in jail. Naseem is the key accused in Shine City multi-crore fraud case and brother of Shine City group of companies’ managing director Rashid Naseem, added the press note.

Rashid is said to be living abroad as many FIRs were lodged against him and his company. Both siblings were accused of duping gullible investors of over ₹1,000 crore. However, Asif was arrested and is lodged in Lucknow district jail for over 18 months now. His power of attorney was allegedly prepared by forging signatures of jail officials in August, 2022.

The multi-crore fraud by Shine City Group of companies is being investigated by the UP Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and jail officials came to know about this fraud on October 20, 2022, when the investigation agency called them to enquire about sale of properties on behalf of the power of attorney given by Asif Naseem.

Jailor of Lucknow district jail, Rajendra Singh, gave a complaint in the matter at the Gosainganj police station soon after coming to know about this fraud. But the FIR was lodged after two months on December 20, 2022.

In the FIR, he mentioned that his signatures were forged for verifying documents while the stamp of the jail was also not clear. He said this needs to be investigated thoroughly to ascertain the real facts. The FIR was lodged against Asif Naseem under IPC sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (fraud), 467 (forging of documents), 468 (using forged documents for cheating purpose) and 471 (using forged documents as genuine).

The inquiry was ordered against Maitreya when Lucknow jail officials accused him of biased approach in probing how Asif Naseem’s power of attorney was made in jail.