[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 23 Jul: After Naharlagun Police Station OC Inspector Minli Geyi and Sub-inspector (SI) Sushant Jha were suspended in relation to a case involving stolen Fortuner cars, the Delhi Police also suspended three officials on Sunday in the same case.
The Delhi Police, along with the Naharlagun police were investigating the case of stolen Toyota Fortuner vehicles being sold in the markets of Arunachal Pradesh.
Speaking to this daily, a senior official of the Delhi Police confirmed the suspension of the trio.
“Inspector Girish Jain, SI Akhil Kumar and Assistant SI Rakesh of the central district, Delhi, have been placed under suspension with effect from 21 July onwards,” the official informed.
Earlier, the Delhi Police commissioner had sought a report from the Arunachal Pradesh Police (APP) after allegations of corruption emerged against the Delhi Police officials who had come to Arunachal to investigate the Toyota Fortuner cars theft case.
“The state police on Friday sent a report to the Delhi Police, based on which the three police officials have been suspended. Preliminary investigation shows prima facie their involvement in the corrupt practice,” said IGP Chukhu Apa.
He said also that the police department is contemplating initiating departmental inquiry against the two suspended APP officials.
As per the statement of the people who were caught with the stolen vehicles, they had paid money to the officials of the Delhi Police and the Naharlagun police to save themselves. The money was paid in the hotels where the Delhi Police officials were staying. The family members paid the amount, ranging from Rs 5 lakhs to Rs 7 lakhs.
A team of the Delhi Police first arrived in the Itanagar Capital Region (ICR) on 9 July to investigate the case. But, to the surprise of everyone, they did not inform even the SP or the officer-in-charge of any of the police stations of the ICR when they arrived. They were in touch only with SI Sushant Jha of the Naharlagun police station. Later, the Naharlagun OC was informed, but the SP was initially kept in the dark.
When they started to seize the stolen vehicles, many began complaining that the police were demanding money from them. After this, the ICR SP summoned the Delhi Police officials to his office, but they never turned up.
On 11 July, they conducted checking and recovered some stolen vehicles from the Papu Nallah-Yupia trijunction. However, the Naharlagun police did not make any general diary (GD) entry of the vehicles seized, or the names of the owners, raising suspicion.
“One of the persons who were caught by the police happens to be a worker of a cabinet minister in the state. The person informed the minister about being pressured to pay the police to get himself out of trouble. After this, the matter was appraised at the highest level in the state and also in Delhi,” and official informed.
