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Tainted police officers tarnish Nitish's good governance image

Last Updated 21 January 2013, 18:12 IST

Eyebrows were raised and questions asked in the Assembly when 1997 batch IPS officer of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) cadre Alok Kumar, who came to Bihar on a five year deputation, was made the Senior SP (SSP) of Patna in 2010, overlooking more eligible and competent officers of the Bihar cadre.

The principal opposition party, the RJD, had then remarked that Alok’s only eligibility was that he hailed from Hilsa, home town of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The chief minister, while stoutly justifying the posting, had then said that the officer had a good stint in J&K and would do well here too. But in less than three years, Alok, who has been charged with seeking an extortion amount of Rs 10 crore from a liquor trader, a first of its kind by a senior IPS officer in Bihar, has tarnished the image of Nitish’s much-hyped sushashan (good governance).

Alok, presently posted as Saran DIG, has been charged with threatening a liquor trader, Tunna Pandey, to “cough up Rs 10 crore or else face consequences.”
Pandey later lodged a complaint with the Bihar DGP Abhayanand, who had the matter independently investigated. Prima facie phone records of the DIG and the trader showed that the senior police officer had indeed sought a huge sum as extortion.

Top brass of the state police have recommended to the chief minister that the DIG be suspended immediately. Incidentally, he was promoted as DIG in 2012, after serving as Senior SP (SSP) of Patna for more than two years.

Hall of shame

However, not only Alok, there are other officers who have brought disrepute to the state police. A 2006 batch IPS officer, Ansuia Ransing Sahu, was suspended last year after she was charged with patronising stone chips mafia, guessing centres, massage parlours, gambling and extortion through her bodyguard when she was posted as Sheikhpura SP.

Another IPS officer of the 1969 batch, Narayan Mishra, who served as Bihar’s
Director General of Police (DGP) during the year 2004-05, was accused of amassing property worth Rs 1.4 crore, which was disproportionate to his known sources of income.

In 2012, the Special Vigilance court asked the district magistrate of Patna to confiscate Mishra’s property and open a school in the premises.

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(Published 21 January 2013, 18:12 IST)

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