Amid talks of zero tolerance towards corruption, the Government officials, especially those in the police department seem to be unrelenting as they do not pay heed to even Chief Minister’s warnings.
Bringing embarrassment to the State, two policemen of Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) and Sub Inspector (SI) ranks allegedly demanded bribe from noted economist and one of the architects of MGNREGA Jean Drez for releasing his bike they had lifted from a parking lot of Ranchi University.
When the MGNREGA architect complained against the misbehaviour of policemen and their act of seeking bribe, the matter subsequently reached to Chief Minister Raghubar Das followed by an instruction to the police top brass, City SP Jaya Roy suspended the two cops and ordered a DSP level inquiry. However, the action proved too late and too little as the economist had to face much humiliation and unruly behaviour of the cops.
The case came to light on Tuesday when Drez wrote a complaint letter to Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi against SI Balbir Singh and ASI Suresh Thakur posted at lalpur Police Station. Drez stated that the he had parked a motorbike of Institute for Human Development (No-JH01R-9315) at the parking lot of PG department of Ranchi University at around 8 pm. He then left to attend a meeting. When he returned after an hour he found the bike missing.
“I went to the nearby Gonda police station. The officer in-charge there refused to lodge an FIR and asked me to go to Bariatu police station. Again in the morning when I went to Gonda police station, they told me to go to lalpur police station. At lalpur police station the officials did not help me. They felt as if bad behaviour was a part of their job,” read the complaint letter.
“Sub-Inspector Balbir Singh, who neither wore his uniform nor put his badge, kept shouting at us. We then found that the bike was there at the police station. When we asked him he accepted that he took the bike with him on the evening of December 13 for ‘saving it from being lifted by thieves’ but he did not try to find out who was the owner of the bike in the next morning. later, when we told that we would lodge a theft complaint he agreed to return the bike. But, before we left the PS his colleague ASI Suresh Thakur asked for Rs 500 as bribe,” it continued.
Station In-charge of the lalpur police station BN Singh and others confirmed that there was no mention of the bike seizure in the police records. We, therefore, consider it a matter of theft and since we cannot trust on Ranchi Police, I am sending this complaint to you against the SI and the ASI for strict action,” he wrote.
Talking to The Pioneer, later, Drez said that the conduct and the actions of the cops were very unfortunate. “We got the bike but this kind of behaviour is not expected from people whose job is to protect us and our belongings. Most strict action should be taken against them for being involved in corrupt practices,’ he said.
Notably, three Officers in-Charge of Ranchi Police stations, including one of the lalpur Police Station, had been suspended on the orders of CM Raghubar Das just a fortnight ago. The CM has categorically asked police officials to present a human face of the police and behave well with the complainants at police stations.