Without giving any information to any police station, SSP Sharma took a round of the area to check whether policemen were discharging their duties promptly or not.
In the wee hours, the SSP of Gautam Budh Nagar, Ajay Pal Sharma on Saturday conducted a surprise check by moving in an auto-rickshaw around Noida and Greater Noida. But, the big question is that whether he was trying to divert the media attention from the Special Operations Group (SOG) debacle that UP police faced on Friday.
In a major embarrassment to the UP Police, the entire SOG of the Crime Branch was dissolved after a list of illegal collection from businessmen and traders went viral on social media.
Without giving any information to any police station, SSP Sharma took a round of the area to check whether policemen were discharging their duties promptly or not.
Sources told City Spidey that the SSP hired an auto rickshaw and took a round of Noida and Greater Noida at around 4 am. He then sent a wireless message about the theft of the same auto on which he was travelling. Sub-Inspector Rajbeer Singh, who should have immediately acted on this wireless message, did not respond and was placed under suspension on charges of dereliction of duty.
During the surprise check, a constable deployed on PCR Van No. 22, signalled the auto on which the SSP was travelling, to stop. The constable wasn’t able to recognise the top cop and asked him to reveal his identity.
As the SSP showed some reluctance, the constable pointed his AK-47 assault rifle towards the top cop and asked him to reveal his identity. The SSP got very happy and gave a cash prize of Rs 500 to the constable and his colleague who were on PCR Van No. 22.
Meanwhile, the top cop and his subordinates, who are usually too media savvy and do not miss any opportunity to be in news all the time, have been reluctant in taking calls from reporters in the backdrop of the shameful incident of taking money from traders and businessmen by the SOG staff.
On the other hand, residents of the city blamed the system. Amit Gupta, a resident of Prateek Wisteria said, “Our system is too corrupt and we have seen this type of illegal collection of money in movies by the police. How can the cops take money from vendors, businessmen in the name of security,” Gupta said.
Rajeev Sharma, a resident of Sector-71 said, “Everyone knows that how police take money from people and every cop has his share according to his post or rank. The collections are divided according to post and rank.”
