By IANS
Lucknow : Close on the heels of sacking 6,500 policemen, the Uttar Pradesh government Tuesday ordered the dismissal of another 3,964 policemen recruited during the earlier Mulayam Singh Yadav regime, alleging “major irregularities” in the selection process.
The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government also ordered punitive action against about 50 officers, including six from the elite Indian Police Service (IPS), who were responsible for carrying out the recruitment exercise.
“Play of money, corruption, nepotism and other major irregularities” were alleged as the prima facie reasons for the drastic action.
State Principal Home Secretary J.N. Chamber told a press conference here Tuesday evening, “A high-level preliminary inquiry carried out by additional director general of police Shailja Kant Misra found gross irregularities in the recruitment process and had therefore indicted these officers.”
He said: “We have ordered suspension of six IPS officers while departmental proceedings would follow against 44 others of the junior Provincial Police Service.” These included deputy superintendents of police, superintendent of police and deputy inspector general (DIG).
Answering queries, Chamber revealed that more cops could be fired in the coming days.
“Bulk of the 22,000 police recruitments made by 55 separate selection boards during the previous regime were irregular in one way or the other,” he said.
As against scanning of 15 selection boards carried out in the earlier round of the probe, the second round looked into the recruitment process conducted by 11 boards. Of these, only one got a clean chit.
“The only selection board that appeared spotless was headed by Prashant Kumar, the DIG in Saharanpur, where 310 cops were recruited,” Chamber pointed out
The matter is being referred to the anti-corruption department for a detailed probe after which further action would follow against the indicted officers. “Prosecution proceedings would be initiated against those whose role was found to be dubious,” he added.
On Sep 12, 14 IPS officers were suspended while disciplinary proceedings were initiated against 51 Provincial Police Service officers in connection with the irregularities in the selection process in the first round, which exposed the biggest ever recruitment scam in the history of the state.
“Since the probe is an ongoing process and so far we have scanned less than 50 percent cases, more recruits are bound to come in the firing line in the coming weeks,” he said.
He however sought to clarify, “All those sacked would get a fair chance at the fresh recruitment process that would be undertaken shortly. We would even give them age relaxation wherever necessary.”