Cop, two aides held for operating hawala and betting rackets
UP Anti Terror Squad (ATS) arrested a city police constable Sushil Pachauri and his two accomplices on Thursday night, for operating ‘hawala’ (illegal money transfer) and cricket betting rackets in the state capital. Pachauri, who has a tainted background, came on the ATS radar while the agency was tracing the ISI money trail through hawala racket for the past few months and arrested three ISI agents from different districts.
Pachauri and his accomplices Brijesh Singh and Harishankar Prasad were arrested from a lavishly maintained flat (number 104) of Park View residential apartments in Mahanagar area. The ATS sleuths, who were also accompanied by a city police team, were shocked after seeing the flat, containing a computer system with several telephone lines connected to it. “The threebed room flat, taken on rent, was lavish with a fridge worth Rs 1 lakh, bed costing over R 60,000 and premium quality sofa set and curtains,” said a senior cop instrumental in busting the racket.
An ATS officer said Pachauri was on their radar when his name surfaced in illegal money transfer racket around two months and he was being tracked since then. He said detailed inquiry revealed that Pachauri was the kingpin in the hawala and cricket betting racket. He was also suspected to have links to international money transfer racket primary in West Asia, north Africa and parts of the the Indian subcontinent.
He said the police team was trying to get more details about the network from the computer system, telephone and mobile connections of Pachauri and his two accomplices.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Lucknow, Manzil Saini Dahel said earlier, the constable was arrested and terminated along with four other police personnel, sub-inspectors (S-I) Santosh Singh and Brijnath Yadav and constables Alok Singh and Santosh Tiwari for around 22 kg gold loot from an Allahabad trader’s employee in Ashiana in September 2006.
“The termination of Pachauri and Alok was, however, revoked by the high court later in 2010 and he again joined the force. After being reinstated, Pachauri remained posted in trade tax department for over five years and was again transferred to Lucknow police in June 2016. He was posted at Reserve Police Lines here since then,” said the SSP. She said Pachauri had been suspended with immediate effect and department inquiry had been ordered against him. The process of termination would be initiated after finding substantial evidences against him.
FROM HARDWORKING COP TO CRIMINAL
Sushil Pachauri, who joined the police in 1998, was posted in the UP elite investigative agency till 2005. He had earned over a dozen remarks for excellence and won appreciation from senior officers before being removed from there for his involvement in illegal activities. He had been part of some major operations by the STF. Another constable and his batch mate Alok Singh, presently posted in the city’s Madiaon police station, was also transferred from the STF for the same reason. The duo got themselves transferred to Lucknow police and managed to get inducted into the city Special Operations Group (SOG).
“Pachauri allegedly continued to remain involved in illegal activities. He and Alok Singh finally landed in trouble when they were arrested and terminated in connection with the gold loot in 2006,” said a senior police officer under whom both the constables had worked for long.