Uttar Pradesh: Auraiya DM suspended on charges of graft, dereliction of duty

LUCKNOW: Continuing its crackdown on corruption in bureaucracy, the Yogi Adityanath government on Monday suspended the district magistrate of Auraiya.
Sunil Kumar Verma, the 38-year-old officer, is the second IAS officer to have been suspended in less than a week. On March 31, the state government had suspended Sonbhadra district magistrate TK Shibu, besides senior superintendent of police, Ghaziabad, Pawan Kumar.
A 2013-batch officer, Verma is accused of dereliction of duty and graft. According to officials, the Chief Minister’s office was informed about corruption charges in the past.
A vigilance department probe has been ordered to ascertain if Verma has amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Officials said complaints of overlooking anomalies in mining activity had been received from Auraiya.
Earlier too, illegal sand mining along the Yamuna river in Ajitmal sub-division was probed by the government on the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). However, Verma was not heading the administration at that time.
Officials said that some complaints regarding payments to contractors who had executed works of the panchayati raj department were also flagged to the government.