Prayagraj: A truck that was brought to a police station in Pratapgarh after being traced by a theft victim allegedly “vanished” from the premises, leading to the suspension of the station house officer (SHO) and a police outpost in-charge. A probe found the two policemen prima facie responsible for releasing the truck and the accused without making any entry in official records, following which an FIR was lodged against them under Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.The suspended policemen have been identified as then Fatanpur SHO Manish Kumar Tripathi and sub-inspector Santosh Kumar Verma. They were found guilty in a probe ordered by IGP (Prayagraj Range) Ajay Kumar Mishra after the victim, Aman Kumar, a resident of Patna, approached him.Police said Aman had booked a loader truck on July 31 to transport wood from Pratapgarh to Patna. However, after some time, the mobile phone of the driver/truck owner, Juber Ahmed of Prayagraj, was found switched off.Suspecting something was amiss, Aman began searching for the truck on Aug 1 and found it parked outside a dhaba near Fatanpur Road. He then dialled 112, following which police personnel brought the vehicle to Fatanpur police station.At the police station, the SHO assured Aman that the driver and vehicle owner would be summoned. Meanwhile, Aman returned to his hotel room and received a call from a sub-inspector late on Aug 1, asking him to come to the police station and informing him that the truck driver and owner were there.However, Aman refused to visit the police station at midnight, citing lack of transportation. When he reached the police station on August 2, he found the truck missing. He contacted the SHO and SI, who allegedly rebuked him.Aman then approached senior police officers and narrated the sequence of events. IGP Ajay Kumar Mishra ordered a probe by an ASP/DSP-rank officer.The probe found that neither the SHO nor the sub-inspector had made any entry regarding the recovery or release of the vehicle in the general diary. The report also found that the two policemen had allegedly released the theft accused and the truck for their vested interests.Following the probe, both policemen were suspended and an FIR under Section 13(1)(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against them at Fatanpur police station.
