IG held as cash-for-jobs scam rocks CRPF

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has uncovered alleged corruption and bungling in recruitment for the anti-naxal force Cobra with the arrest of an inspector-general of police and a commandant of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), apart from six touts.

According to the agency, senior CRPF officers passed on crucial information to touts who lured unemployed young men with jobs in return for bribes.

Bihar IGP Pushkar Singh was posted in the 132 battalion of the CRPF. Singh was assisted in running the racket by commandant Yadhvinder Singh and touts allegedly headed by Mukesh Kumar. The recruitments were reportedly for the Cobra force.

The IGP was arrested on Tuesday after raids in Patna. The agency reportedly recovered Rs23 lakh from his house.

Mukesh Kumar, a suspended CRPF constable, and Yadhvinder Singh were arrested from Jamshedpur. Rs70 lakh were recovered from Swati, Kumar’s wife.

A Delhi court on Wednesday gave the CBI transit custody of the commandant and touts, Pargat Singh and Pappu Singh, allowing the agency to produce them in a court in Patna.

The CBI is reported to have recovered incriminating documents, accounts of payments, records of candidates, and investments and deposits worth around Rs 1 crore.

Documents showing acquisition of substantial immovable properties were also recovered.

The arrests came two months after the CBI arrested CRPF deputy inspector-general of police Vinod Sharma.