A city court has pulled up the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch over the pace of investigation into an alleged job racket.
More than 1,000 people were allegedly cheated by the accused, who promised them jobs under the Rajiv Awas Yojana. But a city court, granting bail to the arrested persons this month, pulled up the Crime Branch, saying that “despite there being sufficient time” to probe the case, the police had traced only four victims — and without any “specific evidence”. At this pace, the investigation would take “several years to complete”, the court said.
The Crime Branch began probing the case following orders from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). But over six months after the probe was launched, the police are yet to file a chargesheet.
It is alleged that the accused collected sums from Rs 15,300 to Rs 23,500 each from nearly 1,500 people from various states by promising state and central government jobs under the Rajiv Awas Yojana.
The court released the accused on the ground that “no specific evidence” had been collected by the investigation officer to disclose “the exact amount involved in cheating and the victims thereof”, hence “no useful purpose will be served by keeping the accused behind bars”.
“I fail to understand as to why, despite there being sufficient time to investigate the matter, he has been able to trace only four (victims) till date… the investigation will take several years to complete,” said Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal.
During the bail hearing, when the court asked the investigating officer how many people were cheated, the officer said there were “hundreds of victims who are yet to be identified”.
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On June 10, the police had arrested Manoj Sharma (26), Javed Khan (32), Abhishek Sharma (29), Mohinder Kumar (29) and Sulabh Gulati (23), all residents of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, in the case. After spending over 70 days in jail, they got bail this month.
Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies.
With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health.
His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award.
Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time.
Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More
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