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Recovered money missing: 3 suspended cops abscond
Ghaziabad: In connection with a case of money recovered from a gambling den being siphoned off by the SHO of Indirapuram and two sub-inspectors — all three were
Ghaziabad: In connection with a case of money recovered from a gambling den being siphoned off by the SHO of Indirapuram and two sub-inspectors — all three were later suspended — the Ghaziabad senior superintendent of police (SSP) has assigned the investigation to a circle officer.
The police said the three are presently absconding. It is alleged that Deepak Sharma, former SHO of Indirapuram police station, and sub-inspectors Sandeep Kumar and Sachin Kumar, allegedly pocketed about ₹13 lakh from 13 suspects who were nabbed for gambling during a raid at a hotel in Vaishali on the night of October 22.
After the incident came to fore, an inquiry was assigned to assistant superintendent of police (ASP), Indirapuram, and prime facie, a case was made out.
“A report was submitted to the SSP. The three policemen were suspended with immediate effect. They are now absconding and the inquiry has been assigned to circle officer (Sahibabad),” Keshav Kumar, ASP, Indirapuram, said.
“The circle officer is collecting evidence. We will now be proceeding with legal action and ensure that the three suspended policemen are brought to book,” SSP Sudhir Kumar Singh said.
Following the inquiry, the SSP had directed two FIRs. The first at Indirapuram police station was against the three policemen for criminal breach of trust and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The second is lodged against the 13 suspects, under the provisions of the Public Gambling Act.
According to police, the raids were conducted at the Vaishali hotel on the night of October 22 and four suspected gamblers were found in one room, while nine others were found in a second room.
This is the second such incident of recovered money being siphoned off in Ghaziabad in the recent past.
In an earlier incident, seven police personnel, including former SHO Laxmi Chauhan, allegedly siphoned off about ₹70 lakh from two suspects who were arrested in connection with an ATM fraud case. Chauhan and constable Dheeraj Bhardwaj later surrendered before the anti-corruption court in Meerut.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the police was caught up in another controversy as the PRO of SSP Ghaziabad allegedly forwarded a message on a social media group about the alleged corruption in transfer postings of several inspectors in the district.
The PRO Tuesday said he was trying to delete the message and had mistakenly forwarded it to the group.
“We have taken up investigation in the case and the original sender of the message will be traced. The transfer/postings were done as per norms. The records of those posted are clean,” SSP said.
