IPS officer on the run in Bihar conman case had a string of adverse reports against him, SI

Documents available with The Indian Express show that the closure report was filed despite a string of adverse reports against Aditya Kumar submitted to the police headquarters by then Magadh IG Amit Lodha and Gaya SSP Harpreet Kaur between June 2021 and May 2022.

Consider these:

• In July 2021, Magadh IG Amit Lodha asked SSP Kumar to probe a complaint against Fatehpur (Gaya) police station in-charge Sanjay Kumar over allegedly refusing to register an FIR against a person from whom police had seized a huge amount of liquor. Ram had earlier worked with SSP Aditya Kumar while the latter was posted in Jehanabad. The probe, carried out by an Additional SP, found that though SI Ram was guilty on “multiple counts”, in May 2021, Aditya Kumar merely shifted him to another police station. Following the findings of the probe, IG Lodha suspended Sanjay Ram.
• IPS officer Harpreet Kaur, who took over as Gaya SSP in March this year, found at least eight instances in which Ram had either not lodged cases after the seizure of liquor or tampered with evidence after filing of cases against liquor traders. Kaur wrote to the IG recommending Ram’s dismissal. Kaur had succeeded Aditya Kumar as SSP Gaya in March after the latter was removed in the prohibition case.
• SSP Aditya Kumar had suspended Inspector Surendra Singh of the Rampur police station in contravention of the standing order of the police headquarters regarding removing an inspector only after approval of the DIG and IG. A detailed report on Aditya Kumar by then IG Lodha has been pending before Bihar DGP SK Singhal.

Earlier this year, the PHQ shifted IG Lodha from Gaya. After waiting for posting for three months, Lodha is now IG, state crime records bureau (SCRB).

Following complaints from Bihar DGP S K Singhal on the alleged impersonation, the EOU on October 15 booked Aditya Kumar, conman Abhishek Agrawal and three of their associates. While the others have been arrested under IPC Sections and IT Act provisions related to forgery, cheating and impersonation, Kumar, who has been on the run, has been suspended.

In the closure report, DGP Singh reportedly noted that Section 51 of the Prohibition and Excise Act, under which IPS Aditya Kumar was booked, did not apply as responsibility for implementation did not rest with just the SSP and that others in the hierarchy were equally responsible for the implementation of the Act. The Police HQ called the filing of the FIR against the IPS officer a “mistake of law”. But Sanjay Kumar, who was a co-accused in the same case with Aditya Kumar, continues to be an accused in the case filed in March.

Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) J S Gangwar told The Indian Express, “Calls from a conman to the DGP and the filing of the closure report should not be seen together. Aditya Kumar has got anticipatory bail in the matter. Why should just the SSP be held responsible for implementation of the liquor law? What about the inspector and the DSP in between?”