Rs 70 lakh theft: Former SHO and constable surrender before court
Ghaziabad: A day after Ghaziabad police initiated attachment proceedings against seven cops including the former Station House Officer of Loni Police Station, Inspector Laxmi Singh Chauhan, in connection with a theft of Rs 70 lakhs, Chauhan surrendered before the anti-corruption court in Meerut along with a police constable on Thursday morning. The court has announced 14 days judicial custody to both the accused.
Inspector Laxmi Singh Chauhan and six other cops- Chowki incharge of Maharajpur police station SI Naveen Kumar Pachauri and five constables Bachchu singh, Faraz Khan, Dheeraj Bharadwaj, Saurabh Sharma and Sachin Kumar, were booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act besides the IPC Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) for siphoning off over Rs 70 lakhs from the money recovered from two theft suspects.
The matter came to light on April 22, afer a logistic company CMS info system limited at site-IV industrial area in Sahibabad, registered a case against their two cash custodians Rajeev Sachaan and Amir for siphoning off Rs 72.5 lakh from the cash meant for replenishing ATMs. The company later told police that the missing amount could be as high as Rs 3.35 crore.
The case was registered at Loni police station of Ghaizbad and inspector Chauhan was heading the probe. On September 24, police had arrested Sachaan and Amir and recovered some of the cash from them. Cops said that Rs 55 lakh was recovered from Sachaan while Rs 60-70 lakh was recovered from Amir but the seizure memo mentioned only Rs 45,81,500. The memo was signed by the seven police personnel who were later booked by police.
All the accused were on run since September 25 and police had been conducting raids to arrest them but failed to trace them. On Wednesday night, police had initiated attachment proceedings against all the seven accused and have pasted notices on their properties. However, on Thursday, Chauhan and constable Dheeraj Bharadwaj surrendered before the court where they were sent to 14 days judicial custody.
Meanwhile, Ghaziabad police officials who have failed to make the arrest even 42 days after the matter came to light, said that they will now seek police custody remand of both the accused.
"We will now seek police custody remand (PCR) of both the accused to record their statement and will file the application in court soon. Police teams are conducting raids at suspected locations to nab the other five accused in the case who are on run and we are expecting a breakthrough soon," said Atish Kumar, Circle Officer Ghaziabad, who is also probing the case.
