16 special ops cops sent off duty after bribery slur in Noida

NOIDA: Sixteen police personnel of the Special Operation Group (SOG), that reports to the crime branch, were recalled by the senior superintendent of police (SSP) to the district police lines after bribery allegations on Friday.

The decision was taken a few hours after a SOG constable in a tweet uploaded photos on social media in which some Special Operation Group officers were purportedly shown accepting bribes from businessmen.

Senior police officials, including Uttar Pradesh director general of police, OP Singh, were tagged in the tweet that showed that an amount of ₹3.5 lakh was taken as bribe by the police.

The tweet mentioned that the money collected was allocated for various purposes like festival celebrations, community feasts, train tickets to Bihar on two occasions and purchase of pistol. The tweet also included names and contact details of various traders who allegedly paid these bribes.

According to SSP Ajay Pal Sharma, the tweet was later deleted. “Our prime objective at the moment is to verify the credentials of the account from which the tweet was sent,” said Sharma. He added that the cyber cell was working to find out if the account was fake or not.

The SSP said the 16 officers were recalled so that there is no interference in the investigation.

“Whether anyone is at fault or not will be determined after a thorough investigation in the matter. But, we do not want any kind of interference in the investigation and that is why all the police personnel were recalled to the district police line,” said Sharma, adding that SP (city) will lead the investigation.