UP Police, Military Intel Bust Army Recruitment Scam; ISI Involvement Suspected

In a shocking development, the UP Police along with the Military Intelligence (MI) has tracked down a racket that allegedly assisted several youths to get jobs in the army based on fake documents in the last two years, Times of India reports.

An ex-serviceman, two police officials and five others have been involved in this conspiracy. The investigating team suspects that Pakistan’s spy agency ISI or other anti-national elements might have inducted their men into the army through this racket. The retired soldier, one of the police officers and three other people have been arrested in this case.

The racket was active in four districts of UP and 21 people have landed jobs in the army through this method. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has been roped in by the state police as the reverification process of all candidates who made it into the armed forces through this scam from January 2019.

“I have ordered reverification of all the successful candidates in Bareilly, Pilibhit, Budaun and Shahjahanpur. We have also asked the IB and other security agencies to join the investigation. I am monitoring the case and coordinating with all the agencies,” said Rajesh Pandey, DIG OF Bareilly range.

The five accused: Suresh Som, Hukum Singh, Paramveer Singh, Mukesh Kumar and police constable Manveer Singh were arrested from a rented apartment in Banda area, Shahjahanpur.

“Suresh Som was a havildar in 26 Rajput Regiment and retired in February 2010. Our Bareilly unit is thoroughly investigating the case with police. A separate internal investigation is also going on. The possibility of the involvement of anti-national groups like ISI cannot be ruled out as Som had leaked inside information to recruit the candidates on fake document,” stated an MI officer from Bareilly.

He said that the intelligence team is examining the antecedents of the concerned 21 candidates currently. However, he fears that the number of individuals who illegally benefited from this racket could shoot up as the investigation proceeds. Police constable Moolchand and an individual named Arvind Kumar are the other two accused and they are on the run as of now.

S Anand, senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Shahjahanpur, has revealed that the arrested police official Manveer Singh exploited his position and used to approve the fake documents of the candidates. “It is a very big scam. Data of 21 candidates, shortlisted in the army through fake documents and showing them as residents of Bareilly division, has been found so far,” the SSP said in a press conference.

Anand added, “We have seized 23 fake stamps of government offices and village heads. Several forged mark-sheets and other fake documents were also recovered from the accused. We are trying to find out the total number of candidates who were recruited through fraudulent means. This is a matter related to national security and no one will be spared.”

The SSP further declared, “One of the accused constables, Manveer, had accepted a bribe of Rs 52,000 from the accused for the verification of a candidate. The accused were getting huge amounts of money for the recruitment. The involvement of ISI or some other anti-national forces behind this racket cannot be denied.”