SSB suspends DIG for raising illegal funds from recruits

New Delhi: The SSB has suspended a senior DIG-rank officer for allegedly collecting over Rs 16 lakh in unauthorised funds from fresh recruits and illegally detaining an officer at a border camp, officials said. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) P S Chundawat was posted as the director of the Sashastra Seema Bal's Recruit Training Centre (RTC) in Gorakhpur in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

An internal inquiry conducted by the force earlier this month found that Chundawat was allegedly involved "in the collection of Rs 16,20,955 from trainees for purchasing unauthorised kit items like pagdi/safa, hockey sticks, books, e-rickshaw and LIC policies".

The inquiry report adds that he also raised "unauthorised funds for earthquake relief and other office funds" for the trainees, who join the paramilitary force from various parts of the country as constables. The officials said that the SSB headquarters, which took a serious view of such "irregularities" and "financial impropriety", recently suspended him pending a further inquiry. The incidents are believed to have taken place in the last two years.

The DIG, they said, has now been posted to the SSB frontier headquarters in Lucknow. Chundawat has also been charged with putting a deputy commandant-rank officer of the force under "house arrest", which the internal inquiry said "violated the basic provisions of law."

The inquiry found that the DIG's action was "uncalled for and did not conform with legal provisions as enshrined in the SSB Act and Rules."