7 suspended cops booked after Rs 70 lakh of recovered loot go missing
The police said they were booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act besides the IPC Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) at the Link Road police station.
The Ghaziabad police has suo motu lodged an FIR against the suspended woman SHO of Link Road police and six other personnel of her station after nearly Rs 70 lakh went missing from the loot recovered from two theft suspects.
In the case registered on April 22, the two men were booked for criminal breach of trust after they allegedly made off with money they were entrusted with to replenish cash ATMs.
The present FIR names SHO Laxmi Singh Chauhan, sub-inspector Naveen Kumar and five constables Bacchu Singh, Faraz, Dheeraj Bhardwaj, Saurabh Kumar and Sachin Kumar. The police said they were booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act besides the IPC Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) at the Link Road police station.
Ghaziabad SSP Sudhir Kumar Singh had on Wednesday ordered their suspension with immediate effect after the alleged crime came to fore. The FIR was lodged by Dr Rakesh Mishra, circle officer (Sahibabad), and the case investigation has been assigned to Atish Kumar Singh, circle officer (city – 2).
In connection with the April 22 case, police on the night of September 24, had arrested Rajeev Sachaan and his accomplice Amir. Sachaan is believed to have siphoned off about Rs 72.5 lakh of his company’s cash meant for refilling ATMs.The company officials later apprised the police that the amount could be about Rs 3.35 crore.
During their questioning, Sachaan told that the police team that about Rs 55 lakh was recovered from him while another Rs 60-70 lakh was recovered from Amir.
But the seizure memo mentioned only an amount Rs 45,81,500. The memo was signed by the seven now suspended personnel.
“We have come to know that the police in Noida and Delhi were not informed about the arrests. This is mandatory, especially in cases where money is recovered from suspects. Moreover, independent witnesses have to sign the recovery documents as well. The investigating officer will now collect evidence and follow proper procedure about the charges,” Shlok Kumar, superintendent of police (city), said.
The police Wednesday had also said a private car had stopped near the police vehicle (near Maharajpur border) which was taking the suspects to Ghaziabad. They had said that they came across CCTV footage that shows “something” being transferred from the police vehicle to the car.
“The investigating officer will now check the CCTV footage which shows that something was transferred to the private car,” Kumar said.
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How the case unravelled
On April 22, a case is registered against Rajeev Sachaan and Amir for siphoning off ₹72.5 lakh from the cash meant for replenishing ATMs. The company later told police that the missing amount could be as high as ₹3.35 crore
On the night of September 24, the Link Road police personnel arrested Sachaan and Amir and recovered some of the cash from them. According to the suspects, about ₹55 lakh was recovered from Sachaan while ₹60-70 lakh was recovered from Amir
But the seizure memo mentioned only ₹45,81,500. The memo was signed by the seven now suspended personnel
The seven police personnel, including the woman SHO of Link Road station, have been booked for criminal breach of trust the case investigation has been assigned to Atish Kumar Singh, circle officer (city – 2)
The SP (city) said proper procedures were not followed in the arrests of Sachaan and Amir. Also, while the suspects were being brought to Ghaziabad from Noida in a police van, it had a rendezvous with a private car into which “ something” was transferred from the van
Police have found CCTV footage corroborating this and are trying to identify the car.