BHOPAL: In what will certainly sound surprising, a clutch of men from lower economic rungs, including driver, cleaner, cook, vegetable vendor and a physically challenged individual, have turned out to be “pocket or fixed” witnesses, allegedly helping the cause of a single cop in at least 150 criminal cases in Mauganj district of Madhya Pradesh between 2022 and 2024.
Ordering a probe into the complaint, backed by detailed evidence in at least 150 cases, Mauganj district Superintendent of Police Dilip Soni has attached to lines the officer concerned - Nai Garhi police station in-charge Jagdish Singh Thakur.
The detailed complaint in the matter has been filed by a local social activist Kunjbihari Thakur.
The complaint, based on the information derived from the police’s very own criminal tracking and network system (CCTNS), shows that the sub-inspector and police station in-charge Jagdish Singh Thakur’s personal driver, Amit Kushwaha, is listed as the sole or joint witness for police in around 100 cases.
The other witnesses whose names feature as police witnesses regularly in cases registered between 2022 and 2024 in Laur and Nai Garhi police stations of Mauganj district (formerly part of Rewa district), include the cop’s former cook and presently a vegetable vendor Dinesh Kushwaha, a cleaner Dara alias Ramakant Yadav, cop's former driver Rahul Vishwakarma and physically challenged Arun Tiwari.
All the concerned criminal cases which mostly pertain to cannabis smuggling, illicit liquor trade and illegal arms related offences were registered at those police stations, when Thakur was posted there.
With Thakur’s personal driver, Amit Kushwaha’s name appearing as sole witness in most of those cases, the locals describe him as a “travelling witness”, who moved with the police officer Jagdish Thakur, as he got transferred.
One of these witnesses, Dinesh Kushwaha, who earlier was a cook for the cops but presently sells vegetables, when asked by journalists about being a key witness for the police in multiple cases, said, “Though I sell vegetables, I have sometimes also cooked at the police stations. I testified as a witness in just one case about ganja. But in other cases, my signatures have been put by the police as witnesses on their own. I might have signed a maximum of three to four times, but in other cases, I have not signed. I didn’t even go to the place where the alleged crime happened, just my signatures were obtained as a witness at the police station only.”
Another man who was allegedly used by Thakur as a professional/pocket witness is his former driver, Rahul Vishwakarma. He is listed as a police’s witness in at least 18 cases registered at the Laur police station in 2024.
“I was never present at the spot of the alleged crime. I put my signature three or four times, as a witness on his (Thakur's) directions, particularly when people were brought in custody at the police station. I don’t know how my name is listed as a witness in so many cases in the police records,” Vishwakarma said.
In at least six of the around 150 cases, whose list has been submitted to the SP-Mauganj by the complainant, a physically challenged man, Arun Tiwari, is listed as a co-witness with Amit Kushwaha.
Another police witness is Dara alias Ramakant Yadav, reportedly a cleaner at the Nai Garhi police station, who is listed as a witness in 14 cases. But he says that he does not remember how he became a witness and never went to court to give testimony in any case.
Social activist Kunjbihari Tiwari, who has recently submitted the complaint to SP-Mauganj district, against the concerned police officer Jagdish Thakur, alleged that, “A single person (Amit Kushwaha) is listed as a police witness in more than 100 cases. He seems to be omnipresent regardless of the alleged crimes anywhere. He was listed as a witness in a single day in multiple cases, which happened at the same time at distances as far as 10 kms. It’s not just the officer Jagdish Singh Thakur, who has been transferred, but even the key witness travelled with him from one police station to another, which is really surprising."
"This shows that the witnesses are fixed/sponsored, possibly to help the cop in blackmailing innocent people by implicating them in false cases. The concerned police station in-charge was suspended in the past while at Nai Garhi police station, but a few years later handed the responsibility at the same police station again, god knows what are his special qualities,” Tiwari added.
While confirming that the complaint has been recently made to him, the Mauganj district police superintendent Dilip Soni said, “The Sub Divisional Officer Police (SDOP) has been handed over the probe in the matter, and the concerned Naigarhi police station in-charge Jagdish Singh Thakur has been attached to the district police lines, to ensure that the probe isn’t influenced.”
As per informed sources, the concerned sub-inspector Jagdish Singh Thakur, who has been posted at police stations of Rewa district and Mauganj districts for a long time, enjoys the support of key politicians as well as some other influential people from Vindhya region who have considerable influence in the power corridors in the capital Bhopal.