Complainant in Home Guard scam set fire to evidence: Cops

According to police, Platoon Commander Rajeev Kumar had approached the SSP with a formal complaint into the scam.

“A week ago, Home Guard HQ in Surajpur was broken into and muster rolls being investigated with regard to the attendance scam were set on fire. We scanned CCTV footage and additional surveillance to find one person entering the office during the suspected time frame. On further investigation, the accused was identified as Rajeev Kumar — the complainant in the case. It appears that he was not satisfied with the probe and wished to derail it,” said SSP (Gautam Budh Nagar) Vaibhav Krishna.

According to police, footage showed a man wearing a shawl and carrying an iron rod breaking into the Home Guard office. When police questioned Rajeev, after matching the physical description from the footage, he admitted to the arson and destruction of evidence.

During questioning, Rajeev told police that he had also allegedly fudged attendance figures in muster rolls to withdraw an inflated salary. Since muster rolls from 2014-2017 were being checked, he was afraid the discrepancies would have given away his involvement, police said. So, the accused decided to burn the evidence in order to clear his name, police said.

Rajeev was also “irked by the fact that the Home Guard department did not file an FIR against senior officials despite clear indications of wrong-doing”, police said.

After approaching police in July, Rajeev alleged he was threatened by officials that a conspiracy was being planned to frame him in the scam as well.

“Rajeev believed senior officials in the scam would go scot-free and the blame would fall on junior Home Guards. He felt that if the muster rolls were destroyed, no action will be taken against lower-rung personnel,” said SSP Krishna.

Home Guard muster rolls of all districts statewide are currently being scanned to ascertain the extent of the scam. An FIR of alleged cheating and fraud was filed after Rajeev’s complaint. A similar scam came to light in Lucknow and several officials have been arrested.