The hint of a recruitment scam in Jharkhand police has come to light with almost 10 per cent of the 1,560 new constables being declared ‘unfit’ even for training in Punjab.The new recruits had been sent to the Punjab Armed Police Training Centre, Kapurthala and the Punjab Police Training Centre, Hoshiarpur on September 6. It is learnt that at least 150 of them were found ‘unfit’. While the rest will continue their training, these 150 are being sent back to Ranchi. Most of the new recruits belong to Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes. As the state police training centre in Hazaribagh could not train more than 500 policemen, the top brass sent them to the Punjab centres. ‘‘When their training began, some of them were found physically unfit. Some others suffered from night blindness,’’ a senior officer associated with their training told The Indian Express. When IG (Training) Rakesh Jaruhar was asked for his reaction, he declined comment. An IPS officer admitted some recruitment were made on considerations other than merit. ‘‘If the men responsible for such recruitment are not taken to task, it will set a bad precedent in this new state,’’ he said.The recruitment of over 1,200 constables is still on. Reacting to the Punjab police trainers’ finding, another IPS officer said that they must be commended as they had detected what the state police could not. He added: ‘‘After all, they were not expected to make brick out of straw.’’
