ADG Meerut to probe Gautam Buddha Nagar SSP's letter on transfer racket

Lucknow: A sharp division has emerged in the IPS cadre in Uttar Pradesh after Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Gautam Buddha Nagar district Vaibhav Krishna stated that he had sent a secret report to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath about police officials` nexus with journalists in the transfer-posting racket.

Krishna made this revelation after three allegedly morphed videos went viral on social media in which he can be heard having sex chat with girls. Taking cognisance of this, the Chief Minister has sought the report and also demanded to know why it was not presented before him earlier.

At a press conference held in Gautam Buddha Nagar, Krishna alleged that these videos were morphed to tarnish his image and had been manufactured by those involved in the nexus. The naming of five IPS officers involved in the nexus with journalists in the transfer-posting racket has opened up the proverbial Pandora`s Box with divisions emerging in the IPS cadre.

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A senior IPS officer said that Vaibhav Krishna should have raised the issue at the appropriate forum instead of speaking about the nexus to the media. "He could have directly approached the Director General of Police or the Chief Minister. By speaking to the media, he has sullied the image of the entire cadre. People are calling us and wanting to know more on the issue," said a senior IPS officer in the rank of Additional Director General.

Another retired DGP said that if Krishna has ample proof against the five IPS officers, he should have placed them before the IPS Association. "It is an act of haste. What will happen if the accused officers are not proven guilty? Such acts only create bad blood within the cadre," he said.

However, the younger IPS officers are fully supportive of Krishna and feel that there is a strong need to expose the nexus that has been long in existence.

"The SSP had earlier arrested five journalists including Chandan Rai, Sushil Pandit, Raman Thakur, Udit Goyal and Nitish Shukla, who were running a syndicate for transfer posting of IPS officers. He also has recordings of their telephonic conversations with IPS officers in this regard. It is obvious that people are now trying to implicate him," said a batchmate of Krishna.

The report sent by Krishna, according to sources, details a conversation between Rampur SP Ajay Pal Sharma and Chandan Rai in which the former is being asked for Rs 80 lakh in return for getting him transferred to Meerut.

When contacted, Sharma said that he was not aware of any complaint against him. The chat records of Chandan Rai with other IPS officers reveal shady deals. Nitish Pandey`s WhatsApp chat with former Kushinagar SP Rajiv Narain Mishra throws up similar details. Mishra, however, termed it as baseless.

Meanwhile, UP DGP O.P. Singh has asked Additional Director General of Police (Meerut zone), Prashant Kumar, to probe the letter written by SSP Krishna regarding police officers` nexus with journalists.

The DGP told reporters here on Friday that the terms of reference of the probe had been communicated to the ADG who will submit his report within 15 days.

He said that the SSP should not have revealed the contents of his letter since it was against section 9 of service rules. In his letter, Krishna had named six IPS officers and their nexus with journalists over the transfer racket.

The DGP said that five journalists had been arrested in Gautam Buddha Nagar in August last year for blackmail and four of them are still in jail under the Gangsters` Act.

He said that the complaint lodged by Krishna over his viral video is being investigated by the Superintendent of Police Hapur with the assistance of the cyber cell.