Former Bihar DGP to spend old age in jail, 34 years after pocketing funds meant for police uniforms

PATNA: Former Bihar DGP Ram Chandra Khan and three other people were on Monday sentenced by a special CBI court to three years of imprisonment each in a 34-year-old scam, in which they have been convicted of pocketing the excess from the sale of police uniforms to the force at inflated prices in Ranchi.

CBI court judge Ranjana Asthana convicted four accused, including Khan, and sentenced each of them to three years’ incarceration.

Khan, who was posted as additional inspector general (budget) of police in Ranchi, had sanctioned the purchase of uniforms for assistant sub-inspectors of police, havildars and constables. The price of the uniforms was found to have been unduly excessive, causing loss to the exchequer. Khan and the other accused were found to have played roles in the irregularities in the purchase process.

The CBI had registered a case in March 1986 over the scam, which took place in 1983-84 when Bihar and Jharkhand were united. Of the 10 people named accused, six died during trial. Charges were framed only in 2007 under various sections of the IPC and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Former Bihar DGP AK Pandey and former Jharkhand DGP Neyaz Ahmed deposed against Khan in the case. After evading arrest for several years, Khan was arrested in January 2014. He retired from the post of Bihar’s DGP (sport) in 2002.