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Probe launched as files found burnt at SSP’s office in Surajpur
Noida: Some documents bearing keywords such as Gangsters Act, Beat Policing, etc., dated January 2020, were found burnt near the cafeteria of senior superintendent of police office in Surajpur Tuesday morning.
The media persons, waiting for the new police commissioner to take over the charge, spotted the incident and informed the police. The incident drew sharp reactions on social media, with many alleging foul play as the new police commissioner is yet to take charge.
The police team launched an investigation and said a sanitation worker had collected “discarded papers” from the dustbins inside the offices and had lit a bonfire. The sanitation worker, Omwati, later visited the police office and corroborated the incident.
A cafeteria staff said the papers were being burned around 8am when some media persons spotted it. A closer look showed some papers, documents and used disposable cups. Some burnt documents appeared to be letters issued from DGP Office dated January 2020 to the Noida police. There were also some papers bearing the title ‘Gangsters’ Act’ in the ashes.
Kumar Ranvijay Singh, SP (rural), visited the spot for investigation. “There is a cafeteria in the office complex. Primary investigation showed that a sanitation worker, Omwati, had cleaned the offices and collected papers from the dustbins. She also collected some disposables from the cafeteria and put them on fire. Primary investigation shows the papers were discarded and of no official use. But we have launched a probe into the matter,” he said.
Omwati, a contractual worker, was later called to the police office for questioning. “I had cleared the dustbins and collected all the garbage in the morning. It is a daily exercise for me. I collected the garbage and set them on fire,” she said. The woman said no one had directed her to do so
On November 19, 2019, a home guard platoon commander had allegedly set fire to attendance logs of the personnel at the District Commandant Home Guard Office in Surajpur, after irregularities in the salary disbursal came to the fore. That incident had happened on the day the case was transferred to the crime branch of the UP Police. Police had registered a case and arrested five home guards’ personnel – a divisional commandant, an assistant commandant and three platoon commanders – for allegedly withdrawing money by fudging attendance records of several home guards.
This second incident of this nature on Tuesday has been reported at a time when Gautam Budh Nagar is seeing a transition — to the commissionerate system. The incumbent SSP Vaibhav Krishna was suspended last week and the newly commissioner of police Alok Singh is likely to take charge Wednesday.
The UP government is also conducting a department inquiry against Krishna as well as against five IPS officers whom Krishna alleged were conniving with certain builders, extortionists and local journalists to ensure “transfers and postings” in exchange for money.