DCP, SHO transferred, trainee SI sacked for abusing cab driver, robbing him of

A trainee sub inspector (SI) of the Gautam Budh Nagar police was arrested on charges of extorting ₹7,000 from a cab driver and verbally abusing him earlier this month, senior officers said on Thursday, adding that the SI has been dismissed from service.
Gautam Budh Nagar police commissioner Laxmi Singh said Central Noida’s deputy commissioner of police Suniti has been relieved of her charge for not acting against the trainee SI, despite knowing about the matter for two days.
“DCP Central Noida Suniti has been relieved from her post on Wednesday evening for not taking any action for two days and also for hiding the incident from her senior officers. Shakti Mohan Avasthy has been appointed as the new DCP of Central Noida,” said the police chief.
Three other officers — Bisrakh police station house officer Arvind Kumar, Gaur City-1 outpost in-charge Ramesh Kumar and sub inspector Mohit — were suspended for not acting on a complaint by the cab driver, Singh said.
“Under training sub-inspector Amit Mishra has been dismissed from service under Rule 8(2)(b) of UP Subordinate Police Officers Punishment and Appeal Rules, 1991,” added the commissioner.
According to senior officials, the matter came to fore when cab driver Rupesh Tomar approached the police commissioner directly with a complaint that Mishra, who was posted under Bisrakh police station area, allegedly abused him and extorted money from him, following which she instructed assistant commissioner of police (city-2) Rajeev Kumar Gupta to investigate the matter.
The subsequent probe found the allegations to be true, said police.
“Mishra is accused of abusing and robbing ₹7,000 from cab driver Rupesh Tomar, who resides in Baghpat. Two of Mishra’s associates, Ashish Awasthi and Abhinav Singh, have also been named by the complainant,” said Gupta.
According to Tomar, around 1am on August 2, he had taken a woman passenger from Delhi to Gaur City in Greater Noida West in his cab. As he reached the destination, Mishra and his associates approached him.
“They misbehaved with me and abused me verbally. They let the woman passenger go after she explained that she had just hailed the cab from Delhi. The SI and his associates intimidated me by and forcibly took ₹7,000 from my pocket. I pleaded with them that I had no money left, so they returned ₹500 and sent me away,” said Tomar.
Tomar claimed that he went straight to the Gaur City-1 police outpost to complain against Mishra, but officials there did not listen to him and sent him to the Bisrakh police station. There too, his complaints went unheard, he alleged.
Finally, on August 5, Tomar submitted a written complaint to police commissioner Laxmi Singh. On her orders, the ACP investigated the matter and found Tomar’s complaints to be genuine.
In a subsequent FIR filed on August 7 by ACP Gupta at the Bisrakh police station, it is stated that Mishra and his associates Ashish Awasthi and Abhinav Singh abused and robbed Tomar. “Two others, Jerry and Prince, conducted a recce from afar and alerted Mishra about Tomar’s cab approaching. Based on this, Mishra was apprehended by the police on Wednesday and two vehicles used in the incident — a Mahindra Scorpio and a Hyundai Venue –have been impounded by the police,” said the ACP.
The FIR has been filed under charges of 309 (4) [Robbery], 352 [intentional insult] and 61 (2) [criminal conspiracy] of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The other four accomplices are yet to be traced by the police. “Efforts are underway to arrest Awasthi, Singh, Jerry and Prince who have also been booked in the case,” he said.
Manoj Kumar Singh, till now serving as the SHO of the Surajpur station, was posted as the new Bisrakh police station SHO, while Vinod Kumar of Ecotech-3 police station has been transferred to Surajpur police station and Anil Pande from Police Lines to Ecotech-3 police station, stated a police statement on Thursday.