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Seven cops suspended in Kanpur for serious crimes
ACP, law and order said that besides suspension, all would face departmental inquiries, with further action to be taken based on the findings
Seven policemen, including five sub-inspectors and two constables, have been suspended for involvement in serious criminal activities. Four of them were suspended for selling jewellery stolen from the house of a teacher, two others for robbing a candle trader, and one for sexually abusing a woman he was bringing back from Mumbai to Kanpur.
Additional commissioner of police, law and order, Harish Chander, stated that apart from suspension, all would face departmental inquiries, with further action to be taken based on the findings.
The suspended officers include station officer Vijay Darshan Sharma, sub-inspector Ravindra Srivastava, and head constables Santosh Tiwari and Amil Hafeez. They were indicted after it emerged that Sharma and his team kept and sold stolen jewellery recovered from a burglar. The burglary occurred on October 12 at the residence of teacher Shalini Dubey in the Barra area, with the estimated value of jewellery and other valuables around ₹25 lakh.
Sharma reportedly let the burglar go after obtaining all the stolen items from him and a jeweller. The burglar was later arrested by the Barra police, who were informed of the entire story. When confronted, Sharma allegedly handed over the stolen goods kept at his residence, revealing that part of the jewellery had been melted and sold to the same jeweller he had previously released.
In Ghatampur, two sub-inspectors, Ashish Choudhary and Anuj Sagar, were suspended after they coerced trader Uday Prakash Sahu into paying them ₹50,000. ₹30,000 was taken in cash, while ₹20,000 was transferred to a bank account online. A case of extortion has been lodged against them and the duo have now been taken into police custody, senior officials said. The officers had threatened Sahu that he would be arrested for operating his candle-making unit without a licence.
The Kanpur Vyapar Mandal met with senior officials after Sahu recounted his ordeal. According to Sahu, the two policemen, in plain clothes, began filming his house in his absence on Sunday. He was subsequently called and taken to the police post, where he was allegedly tortured. The two were suspended on Monday after ACP Ranjit Kumar confirmed the allegations in an inquiry.
Another sub-inspector, Gajendra Singh, was also suspended following accusations of sexually abusing a 20-year-old woman he was transporting back to Kanpur from Mumbai. The woman had voluntarily left with her partner on September 22 and married him in Mumbai. Singh and his team recovered her from the Mandvi police area in Virar, Mumbai, on October 10, acting on a complaint from her family alleging that she had been kidnapped.
On the journey back to Kanpur, the woman alleged that Singh inappropriately touched her and attempted to force himself on her. Her account was corroborated by a woman constable who was part of the team. Singh was initially attached to the police lines before being suspended on Monday.
