₹20 lakh bribe case: ‘Tainted’ IPS officer found guilty in 2nd inquiry

A video of him purportedly demanding the amount from the accused, who owns a school and has a rape case registered against him in Varanasi, did rounds on the internet on March 12.

Accused of demanding a bribe of ₹20 lakh from a rape accused in return for an official favour, U.P. cadre IPS officer Anirudh Singh has been found guilty in the second inquiry set up against him. He was cleared of wrongdoing in the first inquiry.

The ‘bribe’ incident was said to have taken place around two years ago when Singh was posted at the Chetganj police station of Varanasi during his field training. He was then transferred to the intelligence headquarters and an enquiry was set up then, in which he was given a clean chit. (For representation)

A video of him purportedly demanding the amount from the accused, who owns a school and has the case registered against him in Varanasi, did rounds on the internet on March 12.

Briefing media persons on Friday, principal secretary (home) Sanjay Prasad confirmed that the 2018-batch IPS officer had been found guilty in the preliminary inquiry, and departmental action against him was initiated. “A decision over the issue is to be taken with the consent of senior government authorities,” a home department official also confirmed.

Singh is presently posted as an additional superintendent of police (ASP) with the Crime Branch-CID in Lucknow after being transferred from Meerut on April 6.

The ‘bribe’ incident was said to have taken place around two years ago when Singh was posted at the Chetganj police station of Varanasi during his field training. He was then transferred to the intelligence headquarters and an enquiry was set up then, in which he was given a clean chit.

He was posted in Fatehpur and Meerut when the video surfaced online again after which the state police headquarters, on the directions of the chief minister’s office, asked the Varanasi police commissioner to conduct a detailed inquiry and submit its report within three days.

DIG-rank officer Santosh Kumar Singh, who’s the assistant commissioner of police (Law and Order) in Varanasi, was deployed to inquire about the allegations.

Instead of submitting its report to the commissionerate, the officer sent the report to the Director General of Police (DGP) headquarters in Lucknow in May during the tenure of RK Vishwakarma as the officiating DGP. Vishwakarma had forwarded it, with his observations and recommendations, to the state home department only a few days before his superannuation on May 31. The DIG had recommended severe punishment against the accused IPS officer.

Report by Rohit Singh

rohit.singh@htlive.com; 9918171777