Amid corruption allegations against Rajkot police officers, city police commissioner transferred

Through another order, the state government gave Khursheed Ahmed, special police commissioner of Rajkot (administration, traffic and crime) the additional charge of Rajkot police commissioner.

Agarwal’s transfer comes around three weeks after Mahesh Sakhiya and Jagjivan Sakhiya, the businessmen from Rajkot, alleged that they paid Rs 75 lakh as “saheb’s” share from around Rs 7 crore the Rajkot Crime Branch had helped them recover from alleged fraudsters last year.

Jagjivan claimed that he and his friend Dr Tejas Karamta went to meet Agarwal and file a complaint after his younger brother Mahesh was duped by three men who lured him to invest Rs 12 crore in their enterprises but didn’t repay the money. Jajgivan also claimed that the police commissioner had told him that a First Information Report (FIR) can’t be registered in the matter and sent for Viral Gadhvi, then police inspector (PI) with Rajkot Crime Branch.

Gadhvi told Sakhiya and Dr Karamata he would go meet “saheb.” As per Jagjivan, the PI came back after a while, saying he would take his application in that matter but “saheb” was demanding 30 per cent as his share from whatever is recovered from the fraudsters. Jagjivan claimed he agreed to pay 15 per cent and that after the fraudsters repaid Rs 7 crore, he paid Rs 75 lakh to the police through S V Sakhra, then a police sub-inspector with Rajkot Crime Branch.

Jagjivan also claims that there was no progress in the investigation after that. Therefore, with the help of Govind Patel, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Rajkot (South), and Rajya Sabha member Ram Mokariya, he met Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghvi, BJP chief CR Paatil and Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and eventually an FIR was lodged on November 27 last year.

On February 2, Patel, who also served as a minister in Anandiben Patel’s government, wrote a letter to Sanghvi, alleging Rajkot police commissioner was taking ‘hawala’ of recovered money without registering any FIR. The letter was leaked to the media on February 5 and the same day, the Sakhiya brothers told reporters that they paid Rs 75 lakh to the police. The police, however, claimed in a release that when the inquiry was on in connection of an application filed by the Sakhiyas, the businessmen and those named in the application had reached an agreement and settled the matter.

After the Sakhiya brothers and the MLA went public with their allegations, the state government assigned an inquiry to Director General of Police (Training) Vikas Sahay) into the matter. Sahay recorded the statements of the Sakhiya brothers while Haresh Dudhat, superintendent of police at Gujarat Police Academy in Gandhinagar, recorded the statement of Dr Karamata.

Agarwal’s transfer also comes 10 days after Gadhvi and seven PSIs of Rajkot Crime Branch were transferred out of Rajkot city police jurisdiction by the state government.

Minister of State for Home Sanghvi and the police commissioner couldn’t be reached immediately for their comments.