In Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, the joint action of ADG and DIG in the case of illegal recovery from trucks created a stir in the police department. The officers raided Narhi area at night and arrested many policemen and brokers involved in extortion on the spot. During this time some bribe takers managed to escape. After this incident, Yogi government transferred the SP and Additional SP of Ballia on Thursday. Also suspended Deputy SP (Sadar). Not only this, orders were also given for vigilance investigation of the properties of the accused policemen – CO, SHO, outpost incharge and others – involved in this extortion scandal.
In fact, ADG Varanasi Zone Piyush Mordia and DIG Azamgarh Zone Vaibhav Krishna had raided Bharauli intersection of Narhi police station area of Ballia on the border of UP-Bihar on Wednesday night. According to sources, the officer had reached the spot riding on a truck and he was sitting as a helper. Meanwhile, the policemen were caught making illegal recovery from the truck driver. In such a situation, two policemen and 16 brokers were arrested while recovering from the trucks. Whereas, many soldiers managed to escape.
The policemen ran away
It is being told that both the officers kept this raid so secret that they did not even inform SP Ballia about it. At the same time, the Inspector was checking the accounts of extortion in the police station. As soon as the policemen came to know that the team of DIG and ADG had conducted a raid, all the policemen started running away from the police station. Even the policeman ran away.
According to the DIG, 18 people involved in this extortion business have been arrested. Two of them are policemen and the rest are civilians. They used to do brokerage and extortion work in the name of police. He told that this raid was carried out in plain clothes.
Yogi government’s action
According to the statement issued by the state government, Ballia Superintendent of Police Dev Ranjan Verma and Additional SP Durga Prasad Tiwari have been transferred and put in the waiting list, while DSP Sadar Shubh Intikh has been suspended. Besides, orders have been given for vigilance investigation of the properties of Deputy SP Sadar, SHO of Narhi police station and police post in-charge.
The statement said that after the revelation of illegal recovery from vehicles by policemen on Bihar border, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken strict action with the policy of zero tolerance.
Earlier, DIG (Azamgarh Zone) Vaibhav Krishna told reporters that ADG (Varanasi Zone) Piyush Mordia had received several complaints of extortion by policemen on the border. DIG Krishna said that during the raid, two policemen involved in extortion were arrested, while three others managed to escape. 16 middlemen have also been arrested. The extortion gang used to charge Rs 500 from each vehicle. It is estimated that around 1,000 vehicles cross the border every night.
If police sources are to be believed, inputs for recovery and extortion were received at Bharauli check post several days ago. However, recce was conducted continuously for four days, when everything became clear then finally the raid was carried out. DIG immediately suspended Narhi Kotwal along with all the police personnel including Korantadih outpost in-charge in this case. At the same time, legal action has also been taken against other policemen posted in this police station.