M A I N   N E W S

SP, DSP arrested in recruitment scam
Remanded in police custody for two days
Ramanjit Singh Sidhu
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 19
The CBI arrested SP Ravi Azad and DSP Udey Shanker here yesterday in connection with a cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy case for their role in the recruitment of 500 constables in the Government Railways Police (GRP) and the Haryana Armed Police (HAP) in 2003-04.

Incidentally, Ravi Azad is the first IPS officer to be formally arrested by the CBI office here.

Sources in the CBI said both officers were today produced before a special CBI court in Ambala, which remanded them into police custody for two days. Both officers were summoned to the Sector 30 office of the CBI for interrogation on Wednesday. They were arrested by the CBI when both of them failed to give satisfactory replies to the queries made by the interrogating officials.

A senior officer in the CBI said, “As they failed to give satisfactory answers to the questions posed to them, we decided to go for their custodial interrogation. We, therefore, arrested them and today produced before the court, which granted the police remand of the accused”.

About the third accused named in the case, DSP Arun Kumar, a senior CBI officer, stated that the bureau was contemplating taking a lenient view against him provided he surrenders before the sleuths. The officer said they could even make him an approver in the case depending upon the amount of cooperation he extended to the investigators.

Azad is presently posted in the State Crime Record Bureau (SCRB), Madhuban in Karnal district while Shanker is posted in the CID wing of the Haryana Chief Minister’s security. The CBI has booked them on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

All three officers were the members of the selection board for the selection of 500 constables of which Azad was the chairman. The matter came to light when one of the candidates, Mr Shailender Kumar, who was not selected, filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, alleging irregularities during the selection process. Considering the petition, the court passed an order asking the CBI to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

The CBI reportedly found that during the recruitment process the original record prepared on the ground while taking physical test of the candidates and at the time of interview was “deliberately” sidetracked for making the final merit lists. They had tampered with the merit lists to accommodate the candidates illegally selected by them, the CBI found.