Noida, January 2: In what seems to be a well-organised transfer-posting racket flourishing in Uttar Pradesh, the Noida Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) has revealed to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath that huge amounts–ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 80 lakh–were being offered to seek plum posts of district police chiefs in the state.
The SSP has named at least five IPS officers of UP cadre who are apparently involved in the racket.
In a confidential letter addressed to the Director General of Police (DGP) and Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Noida SSP Vaibhav Krishna has disclosed that mobile phone recordings of five IPS officers, which include details of WhatsApp communication, show that for the plum post of Meerut SSP, a deal was struck between an IPS officer and a power-broker for Rs 80 lakh.
The letter mentions that details of the deal emerged during the investigation of a case under the Gangsters Act in which four people were arrested in Noida on August 23, 2019.
Confirming the letter, Krishna told IANS that he had given details of a highly organised syndicate involved in transfer-posting racket to the government last month.
“Once I brought the racket to the notice of the Chief Minister, the syndicate has been trying to corner me. Recently, they circulated a morphed obscene video, editing my pictures in three video clips to malign my image,” the SSP said.
The SSP’s letter to the CM further reveals that another UP cadre IPS officer offered Rs 50 lakh for the post of Agra SSP. For the post of Bareilly SSP, the amount offered was Rs 40 lakh. Similarly, the rate for the post of Bijnor SSP was Rs 30 lakh, as per the letter, reviewed by IANS.
The syndicate run by a nexus of powerful bureaucrats and politicians also had a few journalists which played key roles in negotiating deals. All deals were brought to light when various phone conversations and messages were retrieved by the cyber team of the police.
During the investigation, the cyber team also retrieved a few recorded conversations from the accused’s mobile phones which relate to the transport racket operating in Banda district. The phone conversations reveal that one person from Ghaziabad had approached a top official of the Banda police to clear trucks from his district area for a particular amount. The conversation also reveals the details of bank accounts where the payments were to be transferred.
Though the Noida SSP did not divulge information about his correspondence with the Chief Minister’s Office, he did mention that the powerful syndicate involved in the transfer-posting racket was trying to hush up the investigation.
Meanwhile, on the SSP’s alleged morphed video, DGP OP Singh said as the matter is sensitive, the Hapur police had been asked to investigate it to find out who were responsible for circulating the video.
“To ensure a free and fair investigation, we handed over the inquiry to the Hapur police instead of the Noida police,” Singh told IANS.
While the DGP did not comment on the SSP’s letter, sources said the rivalry between IPS officers in the state seemed to be one of the reasons why the transfer-posting racket issue had come to the fore.
Sources said Yogi is likely to act against the tainted officials. IANS
