A Station House Officer (SHO), who is accused of patronising gamblers involved in an online betting racket, has been sent to the district police lines, pending departmental enquiry. The Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) of Madhu Vihar sub-division too has been removed following his complicity in the sordid saga. Preliminary investigations have revealed that Inspector OM Prakash, the SHO of Mandawali police station had deliberately allowed the gamblers to go scot-free on some alleged tacit understanding. The SHO, who was already under the lens for his other acts of omission and commission, was hauled up by the Delhi Police top brass after he was found to be in cahoots with the gamblers who were involved in illegal betting.
According a senior police official, the orders for the removal of Mandawali SHO were issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of the East district, Ajay Kumar. The action was taken some days back when it was revealed that despite being aware about a betting syndicate in the area, the SHO of Mandawali Om Prakash had not taken any action. A senior police official revealed that gamblers had started betting online and a racket was being run in the area. Even though the SHO was aware, he did not file a case against them and nor did he take any punitive action against the gamblers. The course of investigation was not handled properly. It appears he was hand-in-glove with the racketeers.
It was also revealed that the senior police officers were not happy with his overall performance and that just added fuel to the fire. Even the ACP of this sub-division was booted out owing to the same reasons. He was found lacking in his immediate supervisory role, did not warn the SHO for gross dereliction of duty and also did not inform the district DCP, sources added.