Ex-Munger DIG faces EOU probe for graft charge

PATNA The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police has started a probe against Munger’s former deputy inspector general (DIG) Shafiqul Haque who was accused of corruption by a junior officer, officials familiar with the matter said

PATNA

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The Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Bihar Police has started a probe against Munger’s former deputy inspector general (DIG) Shafiqul Haque who was accused of corruption by a junior officer, officials familiar with the matter said.

Haque was shifted from Munger to state police headquarters on June 19 and is currently waiting for a posting.

According to sources, Harishankar Rai, a former additional superintendent of police in Munger and currently posted at Jehanabad, had alleged that a person claiming to be close to Haque approached him and demanded a bribe while promising to help him in a departmental inquiry initiated by the state police headquarters for his alleged failure to file a charge sheet against two accused in the case of recovery of 22 AK-47 rifles smuggled from the Central Ordnance Depot (COD) in Jabalpur in September 2018. Rai also provided an audio clip to back his claim.

On June 17, two days before his transfer, Haque had recommended departmental proceedings against Rai for his alleged failure to file a charge sheet in the case that led to the two accused being granted bail.

Irafan, who has since been transferred to Madhepura, is under the scanner, officials said.

Haque is not the first police officer to have recommended action against Rai. Manu Maharaaj, Haque’s predecessor as Munger DIG, too had recommended departmental proceedings against the then additional SP.

The gun smuggling gang was busted in 2018 and a case registered against 32 named accused and some unidentified persons by the police before the National Investigation Agency took up the case for further investigation.