Lucknow, Nov 19 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken a serious view of the fire in the home guard office in Gautam Buddha Nagar and has directed a probe into the incident.
The chief minister has asked the district magistrate and SSP of Gautam Buddha Nagar to ensure the arrest of the accused persons by Tuesday evening, said a government spokesperson.
He has also sought a detailed report of the fire incident from the principal secretary home guards and director general of the department.
A major fire had broken out in the home guard office in Gautam Buddha Nagar, early on Tuesday, destroying salary muster rolls.
It may be recalled that last week, a scam had come to light in allotting duties to home guards where crores of rupees have been swindled by marking fake attendance of home guards.
The Yogi Adityanath government had already initiated an inquiry into the matter.
UP DGP O P Singh had directed the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in Gautam Buddha Nagar to register an FIR against those responsible for the scam. A four member team had been set up to make a thorough probe into the matter.
The DGP told reporters that this was a case of ‘virtual policing’ because those marked ‘present’ in the registers were actually not present.
The SSP has himself made a preliminary inquiry into the matter and has recommended that a case be registered against the concerned home guard officials.
According to SSP Gautam Buddha Nagar, Vaibhav Krishna, he had received information that several home guards do not report for duty but their attendance is being marked. Some officials were reportedly drawing their emoluments.
Initial investigations showed that the fake signatures of those in charge of police stations were being made to withdraw the money.
“I wrote to the state government and requested an inquiry after which the DG home guards set up the committee which includes SSO Lucknow Sunil Kumar, Mirzapur district commandant Shailendra Pratap Singh, Baghpat division commandant and Meerut divisional commandant D D Maurya,” he said.
The team visited all the police stations and found fake registers and seals. The maximum forgery had been done at the Knowledge Park police station.
“The money would be transferred into the account of the home guards and those officials involved in the scam, would later take their share. In just two months, a sum of Rs 7 lakh has been taken in the scam in five police stations,” the SSP said.
Apparently, if the scam extends to the entire state, the money involved would run into several crores of rupees.
The Home Guard is an Indian paramilitary police force, tasked as an auxiliary to the main police force. The home guards are not on regular salary but are paid a daily allowance of Rs 500 which was increased to Rs 672 by the Supreme Court recently.
–IANS
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