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Recruitment scam: CRPF DIG, 2 others held

New Delhi: Widening its crackdown on the alleged recruitment racket within the Central Reserve Police Force, the CBI on Thursday arrested three persons, including a Deputy Inspector-General of the paramilitary force.

CBI sources said the agency arrested CRPF DIG T.M. Basla, along with Commandant of 134 battalion B.S. Sidhu, and Pankaj Chaurasia, a tout, for alleged corruption and bungling in recruitments to the newly formed anti-naxal force, COBRA.

Eleven people have been arrested in the last two days , including Bihar CRPF Inspector-General Pushkar Singh.

During searches at the residence of Sidhu in Chandigarh, the agency recovered 10 live cartridges, the sources said.

In raids conducted on May 5 at 20 locations spread across Bihar, Jharkhand, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, the CBI recovered nearly Rs. 1.15 crore in cash and fixed deposits.

Of this, about Rs. 23 lakh was recovered from the residence of Pushkar Singh, besides fixed deposits worth Rs. 15 lakh, sources said.

The touts allegedly used to contact the aspirants and assure them of a job in return for a huge sum of money, they said.

The alleged conspiracy was being executed by a network of touts spread across the five States, who had contacts with senior officials of the force, the sources said.

CRPF Director-General A.S. Gill, reacting to the scam busted by the CBI, said changes would soon be effected in the entire recruitment process.

Earlier, in February, the CBI arrested a CRPF DIG in Lucknow, a head constable and a tout, who were following a similar modus operandi. — PTI

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