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Deputy SP in UP police suspended for amassing assets worth ₹100 crore
An SIT’s investigation pointed to the role of a lawyer in Kanpur, Akhilesh Dubey, who operated a network that had close connections with police officials and bureaucrats in the Kanpur Development Authority, and which extorted money by allegedly filing false police complaints and forcibly occupying land
A probe by a Special Investigation Team into an extortion racket in Kanpur has resulted in the suspension of a deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Rishikant Shukla, 57, over charges of allegedly amassing assets worth in excess of ₹100 crore.
A government order from the Uttar Pradesh home department dated November 3 has also directed a vigilance probe against Shukla, who is currently posted in Bhogaon, Mainpuri, but who was posted in Kanpur for over a decade till 2009.
The SIT’s investigation pointed to the role of a lawyer in Kanpur, Akhilesh Dubey, who operated a network that had close connections with police officials and bureaucrats in the Kanpur Development Authority, and which extorted money by allegedly filing false police complaints and forcibly occupying land. It further pointed to the role of Shukla, who had joined the police force as a sub-inspector in 1998, become friendly with Dubey, and even become his partner in some real estate ventures.
The SIT found some properties in the names of Shukla and his family members, and others, including 11 shops which were held on his behalf by an associate of Dubey.
The properties he owned were far in excess of his known sources of income, the SIT concluded, terming them “unnatural” and “illegal”
According to the SIT, Dubey himself has built a criminal empire of around ₹1,500 crore through a network of shell companies and benami properties. His modus operandi , it added, involved filing false rape cases against businessmen and politicians, to extort money from them.
The suspension order provides extensive details from the SIT probe.
Shukla, who began his career in the Uttar Pradesh Police as a sub-inspector, has been suspended after a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed in Kanpur commissionerate uncovered evidence of disproportionate assets, officials said on Monday. The state government has also ordered a vigilance inquiry into the case, a government order issued said. The government has also directed the police department to take further action against Shukla based on the findings of the inquiry.
Dubey is currently lodged in Kanpur district jail in connection with five criminal cases.
Government officials familiar with the matter claimed that the investigation into the Dubey case has pointed to the roles of several other police officers and businessmen, although HT couldn’t independently verify this. The officials, who asked not to be named, said the roles of two more deputy superintendents of police and two inspectors, who remain posted in Kanpur, are also under investigation.
Excluding Dubey, 11 police personnel were suspended two months back for having links with Dubey.
