Lucknow: A purported ‘extortion list’ first leaked on social media, a ‘fake’ cow smuggling case, ‘abduction’, a dismissal and transfers are at the centre of a tussle between a whistle-blower head constable and a group of policemen allegedly involved in extracting money from various businesses in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Mughalsarai town.
The action against former Chandauli SP Amit Kumar, four inspectors, three head constables and 10 constables came after head constable Anil Kumar Singh approached the CJM alleging that he was maliciously dismissed and framed in a ‘fake’ case of cow smuggling.
The 18 police personnel were charged under Sections 147 (rioting), 219 (public servant in judicial proceeding making report corruptly), 220 (wrongful confinement in an area of the accused), 342 (wrongful confinement), 364 (kidnapping to murder), 389 (extortion via false accusation), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
ThePrint has a copy of the FIR.
However, while the FIR was lodged at the Nandganj police station in Ghazipur district on 27 November, the police submitted a report to a local court claiming that the FIR was lodged by Singh “to demoralise the force”.
Singh, according to the Chandauli police, was arrested in connection with the rescue of six cows from a stolen vehicle in September 2021. The head constable was in touch with cow smugglers over the phone, they added.
On his part, Singh alleges that the force was trying to save the police personnel involved in his alleged abduction.
His complaint that he was abducted and bundled into a SUV without any registration plate was corroborated by the husband of Badhara village pradhan, who told ThePrint of that “some persons had arrived at the complainant’s in-laws’s house in the village in a Bolero on the evening of 5 September, 2021”.
In the above-mentioned FIR, Singh mentioned that in September 2020, he “exposed corruption by releasing a list of people from whom the Mughalsarai police station personnel in connivance with the then Chandauli SP were allegedly extorting Rs 12.50 lakh per month by misusing their position and power”.
His charges, Singh added, were established by an inquiry. “Angry over this, the SP Chandauli dismissed me on 28 February, 2021, even after which, the Chandauli SP and the (Mughalsarai) inspector conspired to frame me in a fake case on 8 July, 2021 out of malice. But their plot was foiled by the inspector’s assistant who informed me about their plans on time,” he said.
Amit Kumar, who is now serving as the commandant of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) 45th battalion, Aligarh, said that he joined as the Chandauli SP just a few days after the purported list went viral. “…the file of the head constable’s dismissal was already opened by my predecessor (Hemant Kutiyal). I simply signed it for administrative purposes,” he told ThePrint.
Regarding the charges of abduction, the IPS officer argued that the head constable might have got his daughter to call the 112 helpline deliberately. “My successor lodged a Gangster Act against him subsequently,” he told ThePrint.
Kutiyal, who is now the DIG, prison administration and reforms, was not reachable over calls and messages. This report will be updated as and when a response is received.
What is the vasuli list?
Mughalsarai, a part of Purvanchal, is notorious for coal and liquor smuggling. The ‘vasuli’ list had become the basis of the FIR lodged by head constable Singh.
First shared on Facebook, the ‘vasuli’ list gained public attention when retired IPS officer and anti-corruption activist Amitabh Thakur posted it on ‘X’ in September 2020 noting that the list was purportedly from the Mughalsarai police station.
यह PS कोतवाली मुगलसराय @chandaulipolice की वसूली लिस्ट बताई गयी है. लिस्ट से टोटल प्रति माह 35.64 लाख+अवैध खनन 12500/वाहन+पडवा कट्टा 4000/वाहन (गांजा से 25 लाख सहित) हुआ. कई नाम व डिटेल्ड फैक्ट्स अंकित. गहन जाँच जरुरी. कृ तत्काल देखें @IgRangeVaranasi @adgzonevaranasi @uppolice pic.twitter.com/Yvm5WKd045
— Amitabh Thakur (Azad Adhikar Sena) (@Amitabhthakur) September 25, 2020
The purported list, which ThePrint has a copy, has names of coal traders, liquor shop owners, bar owners, scrap dealers, among others
Apart from confirming the extortion angle, a vigilance probe is reported to have found that Singh had first shared this list with the then Chandauli SP Hemant Kutiyal over WhatsApp.
Subsequently, Mughalsarai SHO Shivanand Mishra was sent to the police lines and later transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Lucknow, while Kutiyal was transferred to Balrampur as the SP in December 2020 in what was termed as a routine transfer. Kutiyal was replaced by Amit Kumar as the Chandauli district police head.
Before these spate of transfers, the whistle-blower head constable had written to the UP Police chief in November 2020, alleging that Kutiyal “himself was guilty of extortion”.
“I had given the list to Chandauli SP Hemant Kutiyal, but no action was taken. Then again, a woman shared it on Facebook in which a vigilance probe was conducted. SHO Shivanand Mishra was found guilty and was sent to the police lines, before being transferred to the EOW on administrative grounds in which the Chandauli SP too is found guilty,” he wrote in a letter
ThePrint has a copy of the letter
“Out of malice, he (Kutiyal) wants to dismiss me by forcefully framing me in an old issue. I suspect that the SP in connivance with a circle officer and SHO Mishra can plot to either frame me in a fake case, or get me killed,” Singh wrote.
‘Abducted, kept illegally for two days.’
In his FIR, Singh gave the examples of slain whistleblowers Satish Shetty, Shashidhar Mishra, Amit Jethwa, Satyendra Dubey, and Manjunath Shanmugam to throw light on the threats he was facing.
“The complainant has exposed the corruption by Chandauli SP (Kutiyal) and Mughalsarai SHO which is why, SP Chandauli Amit Kumar-II (who took over in Dec 2020) and SWAT team incharge Rajiv Kumar Singh, surveillance cell incharge sub inspector Ajit Kumar Singh, SHO Baburi sub inspector Satyendra Vikram Singh, head constables Anand Singh, Amit Kumar Yadav, SWAT team driver Bhullan Yadav, constables Rana Pratap Singh and Anand Kumar Gaur arrived at my in-laws’ house in a white Bolero (without number plate) at 5:30 pm on 5 September, 2021 and abducted me which put my life in danger,” Singh mentioned in the FIR.
His daughter, he added, contacted PCR as well as the Nandganj station house officer (SHO) that “saved” his life.
The accused police personnel kept him in illegal custody for two days, he alleged. A ‘fake case’ was lodged 7 September, 2021 under which he was charged with various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
“My daughter gave an application via registered registry to the Nandganj SHO and my brother-personally gave a complaint to the SHO. I, too, handed over a complaint to the SHO but no action was taken. All the accused mentioned are involved in the conspiracy to eliminate, abduct, confine illegally and wrongfully frame me in a fake and concocted case using forged documents. Their crimes are cognisable and all facts can come before the court only after investigation,” Singh wrote.
The complainant further alleged that neither a probe nor an FIR was lodged despite him submitting a complaint to the office of the Ghazipur superintendent of police.
Sub-inspector Kamlesh Singh, the investigating officer (IO) in the case, told ThePrint that he met the complainant on 28 November and took details of his complaint. “The FIR has been lodged on the directions of the court. There is a cow smuggling and Gangster Act case lodged against the complainant. The case (against the 18 policemen) was lodged on the basis of fake allegations,” the IO said.
On Saturday, Ghazipur SP Iraj Raja issued a statement saying that the case had “immediately been expunged and a report had been submitted in the CJM court”.
“We have gathered adequate evidence in this… no such incident (abduction) had occurred which is why this case has been immediately expunged. The complainant has several cases lodged against him and the case (cow smuggling) was lodged against him during the period of his dismissal in connection with which he remained jailed for a long time…an application was filed by him in the CJM court to finish this case but it was dismissed by the Allahabad High Court,” the statement said.
“He has been successful in getting an FIR lodged on the basis of the same facts because he is a criminal kind of person and currently too, he has cases lodged against him. He got this case lodged maliciously to demoralise police which has been immediately closed by us and a report to this effect has been given to the CJM court,” it added.
‘Police citing false cases’
Singh, the complainant, explained to ThePrint how he was named in the cow smuggling case with detailed planning.
“In the cow smuggling case, I had gone to the Allahabad High Court to get it dismissed but they have framed seven more persons, including a juvenile, which is why the court did not dismiss the case. Had my case file been separate, it could have been dismissed easily… Some of them were tortured to name me so that they could lodge a cow smuggling case against me,” he alleged.
“First of all, allegations against an IPS officer cannot be probed by a sub-inspector. The investigation is flawed from the beginning,” he said.
The head constable said that he has no expectation from the UP Police as he got no help from his seniors whom he approached at the time of his dismissal.
“I am a God-fearing person, and only God is helping me. I remained suspended for three-and-half years and got no help from the senior officers whom I approached to get reinstated. I had to approach the tribunal in Lucknow to get myself reinstated. Retired IPS officer Amitabh Thakur’s wife Nutan Thakur fought my case and the tribunal reinstated me with full honour,” Singh told ThePrint.
“However, the UP Police approached the Allahabad HC against my reinstatement order, but their petition was dismissed within minutes with the judge noting that it was not worthy of being entertained.”
Singh added that when the police department did not reach out to him even after the tribunal’s reinstatement order, he had to lodge a contempt application following which senior officers were summoned in the case. “I was then given the order to report at the Chandauli police lines on 20 May.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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