SIT clears 25 cops linked to gangster

Twenty-five police officials, from the rank of constable to deputy superintendent of police, whose names had come up as possible associates of gangster Nayeem, do not face any charges whatsoever, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has said.

The SIT was set up to probe Nayeem’s activities and complicity of police officials and politicians in the rackets run by him.

The information that not a single case has been registered on police officials whose names figured in the investigations was revealed in an RTI reply provided by the SIT to the Forum For Good Governance. The SIT has said in its reply that “no police officer is cited as accused in any case.”

Forum secretary M. Padmanabha Reddy, in a

THE SIT was formed to probe Nayeem’s activities and complicity of cops, politicians in his rackets

representation to Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan on Saturday, said “though 25 police officers were said to have been associated with Nayeem and his criminal activities, no action has been taken against them.”

The Nayeem case, Padmanabha Reddy said, is not a “simple case of a gangster. It is a case of a deadly combination of police, politicians and the gangster coming together and committing atrocities on innocent people.” It is a case of grabbing of lands that belonged to the people and murdering those who resisted the group’s activities, he said.

Calling on the Governor to ensure a probe into the Nayeem case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Padmanabha Reddy said, “unless the investigation is completed fairly and quickly without leaving any person involved in criminal activities of the slain gangster, however big he may be, such nexus between criminals, politicians and police will continue.”

The SIT was constituted soon after Nayeem was killed in an encounter by the police in Shadnagar on August 8, 2016. The SIT “is not

● THE SIT was constituted soon after Nayeem was killed in an encounter by the police in Shadnagar on August

8, 2016. The SIT “is not capable of doing justice to the case. It is therefore requested to kindly order for a CBI inquiry into the case,” Padmanabha Reddy urged the Governor.

capable of doing justice to the case. It is therefore requested to kindly order for a CBI inquiry into the case,” Padmanabha Reddy urged the Governor.

Four years after registering 240 cases against Nayeem, and 173 chargesheets filed, not a single case has been brought to its logical conclusion. While police officials’ names have been deleted from the investigation, evidence has been suppressed in terms of diaries found in Nayeem’s residence which purportedly contained details and names of police officials and politicians who were hand in glove with Nayeem, he said.

As a consequence, some Indian Police Service officials and politicians have been let off the hook, Padmanabha Reddy said.