Missing ₹6.65 cr: Two Patiala ASIs suspended
PATIALA: A day after they were booked, the Patiala police on Saturday suspended two assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs), Joginder Singh and Rajpreet Singh, in a case of missing ₹6.65 crore seized from the house of Father Anthony Madasserry at Partappura village in Jalandhar on March 29. Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu, who is also member of special investigation team (SIT) constituted to probe the role of senior police officials in the case, said both the ASIs have been suspended.
PATIALA: A day after they were booked, the Patiala police on Saturday suspended two assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs), Joginder Singh and Rajpreet Singh, in a case of missing ₹6.5 crore seized from the house of Father Anthony Madasserry at Partappura village in Jalandhar on March 29.
Patiala SSP Mandeep Singh Sidhu, who is also member of special investigation team (SIT) constituted to probe the role of senior police officials in the case, said both have been suspended.
The ASIs went missing following the raid on the premises of Anthony on March 29. “We have issued lookout circular against them,” SSP said.
ASI Joginder was posted at Mavi Kalan police station, while Rajpreet was stationed at Sanour police station.
On Saturday, the crime branch of Punjab Police in Mohali booked the ASIs under Sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 34 (acts done by several persons of common intention) of the IPC and 13 (1) and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The FIR was registered on Saturday a day after the one-member SIT of IG Praveen Sinha submitted a report to the DGP pointing to fair chances of money being pilfered during the raid.
On March 30,a day after the raid, Khanna SSP Dhruv Dahiya said Father Anthony and his aides were arrested from a checkpoint in Doraha with unaccounted cash worth ₹ 9.66 crore and claimed that police have busted the hawala racket.
But, on March 31, Father Anthony, accused the cops of showing just ₹9.6 crore of the total seizure of ₹16.6 crore. Anthony is a close aide of former Jalandhar diocese bishop Franco Mulakkal, the prime accused in the nun rape case.
After the raid on March 29, a police party left the priest’s house with boxes of cash. This team reached Khanna via the shortest Phagwara-Ludhiana route. However, the ASIs and a police informer remained at Anthony’s house.
EC MUST PROBE CASE, SAYS SAD
The SAD, on Sunday, said that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) must order an independent probe into the disappearance of the money to ensure the guilty are brought to book.