CHANDIGARH: A week after the fake appointment scam in the Information Technology and Telecommunications Wing of the Punjab Police came to light, the department discovered that 2,000 files related to appointments in the wing in the past 32 years were missing from its headquarters here.
The department came to know about the missing files when an operator told an inspector-level officer that he was appointed in the wing six months ago but had not got his salary.
When the officer took him to the DGP office to find out the details, no record was found. Police sources said fake appointment letters were issued to six people for the post of wireless operators and that they had paid `7 lakh each for the job.
It is now being suspected that this fake appointment scam is going on for quite some time with the connivance of senior police officials under the nose of the Director General of Police (DGP) office. To save their skin, they had got a case registered with Sector 3 Police Station in Chandigarh against unidentified people.
The case was registered on the complaint of Assistant Inspector General of Police Malwainder Singh Sidhu, in which he stated that records of employees of all ranks who joined the wing since 1985 were missing. Apart from this, records of ASIs, technical staff, operators who were recruited during 1986-88, and all employees hired during 1989-92 were gone. Details for Special Police Officers, who were promoted to constable operators in 1993, and operators recruited in 1998 were not there, besides seniority lists.
Meanwhile, the alleged main accused in the case, ASI Sanjeev Kumar who had accompanied officials during the check, got himself admitted in hospital after this incident.
Sources said earlier the case was marked to Additional Director General of Police V K Bhawra, but now Punjab DGP Suresh Arora has decided that the inquiry will be conducted by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau. Chandigarh Police have also been asked to expedite their investigations.
“Fake recruitment is a big scam. The inquiry has been marked to Punjab Vigilance Bureau as many officers of the wing are under suspicion,” Bhawra said.
The Curious Case of the Missing files
The department came to know about the missing files when an operator told an officer that he
was appointed in the wing six months ago but had not got his salary. When the officer took him to
the DGP office to find out the details, no record was found.