After the big revelations of extortion by policemen in Ballia, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken a big action. CM Yogi has also removed the Superintendent of Police and ASP of Ballia under the zero tolerance policy. Both have not been posted anywhere. They have been put on waiting list. The SHO and the outpost in-charge were suspended by the ADG himself. CM Yogi has also ordered the suspension of the CO. Along with this, an open vigilance inquiry has been ordered into the property of the CO, SHO and outpost in-charge. The extortion on a large scale from trucks coming from Bihar in the Narhi police station area in Ballia was revealed by the team of ADG and DIG of Varanasi itself in a surprise raid.
Both the officers reached there in jeans and t-shirts and caught the policemen and their agents red handed while extorting money. It was found that Rs 500 was being extorted from each truck. More than a thousand trucks pass through there daily. In this way, more than five lakh rupees were being extorted daily. Apart from this, it has been found that extortion is being done at different rates from small vehicles as well.
ADG-DIG raided in jeans and t-shirt, caught huge extortion by their own policemen
DIG Vaibhav Krishna, who conducted the raid, said that Rs 500 was collected per truck. Whereas about a thousand trucks used to pass through daily. According to this data of the DIG, the daily collection of Narhi police station is Rs 5 lakh. However, if the local people are to be believed, this figure is much higher than this. Apart from a thousand trucks, many small cargo carriers also pass through here. Monthly amount is collected from them too.
During the raid, ADG and DIG sat for hours in Narhi police station and investigated. During this, they recovered two notebooks along with mobiles and other items. These had the account of the collection of the last few days. The police of the police station had deployed brokers for collection. In return, they were also given hundred rupees per truck. Some brokers were given a monthly salary. This disclosure by the police officers has exposed the dark truth of the illegal collection business in the department.
Revenue increased due to opening of new bridge
When the movement of heavy vehicles stopped on the years old Veer Kunwar Singh bridge connecting Bihar’s Buxar district, the police station’s income also decreased. Meanwhile, the new bridge became operational in the year 2023. After this, this police station stood in the queue of creamy police stations not only of the district but also of the state. If the local people are to be believed, two to three thousand cargo carriers arrive every day during the four-five months i.e. season. Whereas in the off season, about a thousand trucks and dumpers pass through Bihar every day carrying red sand.
If sources are to be believed, there was a ban on sending red sand from Bihar to other states from June 1 to July 10. In such a situation, Rs 2500 per vehicle was collected from trucks and dumpers coming illegally. At present, about a thousand big vehicles pass through every day, from which Rs 500 was collected per vehicle.
Case filed against 23 people including SO and Chowki incharge
Police have registered a case against 23 people in the extortion case. These include SO Narhi, outpost in-charge Korantadih and five constables and 16 brokers. The case has been registered in Narhi police station by DIG (Azamgarh range) Vaibhav Krishna’s PRO Sushil Kumar. On his complaint, SO Narhi Pannalal, outpost in-charge Korantadih Rajesh Kumar Prabhakar, constable Satish Gupta posted at Korantadih, constable Haridayal Singh posted at Narhi police station, Vishnu Yadav, Deepak Mishra, Balram Singh are included.
Apart from these, the brokers include Ravi Shankar Yadav, resident of Bharouli, Jitesh Chaudhary, Ajay Kumar Pandey, Arvind Yadav, Ramashankar Chaudhary, Jawahar Yadav, Harendra Yadav, Salam Ansari, Anand Kumar Thakur, Dharmendra Yadav, resident of Amavan, Sonu Singh, resident of Kathariya, Vivek Sharma, resident of Kotwan Narayanpur, Dilip Kumar Yadav, resident of Rajapur in Karimuddinpur police station area of Ghazipur district, Vikas Rai, resident of Chandesh in Kudhni police station area of Bhabua (Bihar), Virendra Singh Yadav, resident of Sarimpur in Industrial Nagar police station area of Buxar (Bihar) and Virendra Rai, resident of Arjunpur. All the 16 brokers along with constable Haridayal of Narhi police station and constable Satish of Korantadih police post have been arrested by the officers from the spot.
