Missing ₹6.6 cr: 2 Punjab ASIs held from Kochi hotel

Two assistant sub-inspectors of Punjab Police, absconding for the past one month with over ₹6 crore recovered during a raid at a house of a priest, have been arrested by Kerala Police from Kochi.

According to Punjab director general of police Dinkar Gupta, based on specific inputs, Kerala Police arrested ASIs --- Joginder Singh and Rajpreet Singh --- from Hotel Casa Linda on Tuesday. A special team, led by SIT chief and IG Parveen Sinha, had left for Kochi to bring back the suspects to Punjab for further investigations, said the DGP.

The ASIs, who were part of a team that conducted a raid at the house Father Anthony Maddasery in Jalandhar on March 29, are accused of pilfering ₹6.63 crore out of the amount recovered during the search.

Anthony had claimed the money was from business proceeds and had alleged that police recovered ₹6.65 crore from his house, but showed it to be ₹9.66 crore, while misappropriating the remaining account.

The priest had reportedly claimed that the money was kept at his house because company employees had refused to go and deposit it in the bank due to the model code of conduct in view of the Lok Sabha polls.

After the raid, police said income tax department officials were informed about the cash seizure and investigations were launched.

The priest had claimed the money to be from business proceeds and had accused that police recovered ₹16.65 crore from his house, but claimed it to be ₹9.66 crore, while misappropriating the remaining account.

The priest had reportedly claimed that the money was kept at his house because company employees had refused to go and deposit it in the bank due to the model code of conduct in view of the Lok Sabha polls

An FIR against the ASIs and a police informer, Surinder Singh, who was arrested earlier, was registered by the SIT on April 12 under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act.