Two Ghaziabad cops, wanted in Rs 60 lakh fraud case, surrender

On September 25, Singh and six other officers were booked and suspended for taking a cut from more than a crore of alleged loot recovery.

“Ghaziabad Police had obtained a non-bailable warrant against Lakshmi Chauhan and the other policemen of Link Road station. Lakshmi’s official residence was raided, from where we recovered more than Rs 1 lakh. She was declared a proclaimed offender and her properties were attached. After we declared a reward of Rs 25,000 for her arrest, Lakshmi and another officer surrendered Thursday. The other absconding officers will be apprehended soon,” said Atish Kumar Singh, Circle Officer (2nd).

The loot case dates back to April 22, when an agent from a cash depositing agency in Sahibabad was booked for alleged theft of Rs 72 lakh. During investigation, it was found that the actual theft amount exceeded Rs 3.5 crore.

A police team, led by Inspector Lakshmi Singh, arrested accused Rajiv Sachan and Aamir in connection with the case on September 24. Police, in their official records, showed that approximately Rs 45 lakh was recovered from the accused.

When the two accused were questioned by a senior officer, they claimed that police recovered more than Rs 1.05 crore from them. When other police officers began enquiring about the missing Rs 60 lakh, seven officers involved in the recovery, included Lakshmi, absconded.

According to police, the accused claimed that as they were being taken to the police station, a part of the recovered cash was transferred to a private vehicle. Police also found CCTV footage, which showed the vehicle approaching the police car at the spot mentioned by the accused.

A case under relevant sections of the Anti-Corruption Act has been registered against inspector Lakshmi, SI Naveen Pachauri and constables Bacchu Singh, Faraz, Dheeraj, Saurabh and Sachin Kumar.