Acting on the inputs given by the Military Intelligence (MI), the Shahjahanpur police busted a fake Army recruitment racket in which men in khaki were also involved.
The officials investigating the racket, which facilitated recruitment of people in the Army on the basis of fake documents, are also looking into the possible involvement of Pakistan’s notorious Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) or some other subversive forces.
Confirming the development, Superintendent of Police of Shahjahanpur, S Anand, said that a recruitment racket was running for over a year and around 300 people were facilitated jobs in the Army on the basis of fake documents.
“The gang operating the racket also facilitated police verification of successful candidates. We came to know about a gang working in the Banda area. It took hefty amounts from candidates outside Shahjahanpur and facilitated their recruitment in the Army with fake documents. After they got the jobs, they also got their police verification done with the help of two constables,” Anand said.
He further disclosed that the investigation made so far did not confirm involvement of any terror outfit, subversive forces or anti-national angle, but they were still looking into all angles, and particularly verifying the involvement of ISI.
Anand said that after they got some vital inputs, a team was formed under ASP (Rural) Aparna Gautam to investigate the racket.
He said after a detailed investigation, Suresh Som (55), Hukum Singh, Paramveer Singh, Mukesh Kumar and police constable Manveer Singh were arrested.
Suresh Som was a havildar in 26 Rajput Regiment and retired in 2010. The police said that Suresh was the kingpin of the gang and Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh was taken from the candidates to prepare the fake documents.
Fake stamps of SHOs, village heads and 300 officers have been recovered from the gang. To nab all the people who got jobs through the gang, police verification of all the recruits after January 1, 2019 is being done.
“The Bareilly unit is thoroughly investigating the case with police. A separate internal investigation is also going on. The possibility of the involvement of anti-national groups like ISI cannot be ruled out as Som had leaked inside information to recruit the candidates on fake documents,” Anand added.