EOW expedites probe into graft cases against lawmakers, officials

LUCKNOW: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the UP police has expedited investigation into cases of cheating, corruption, fraud and misappropriation of funds by lawmakers and government officers in various departments.

A senior EOW officer familiar with the developments said the lawmakers and officers involved in corrupt practices were on the radar of investigation agency.

“Majority of the cases are associated with bungling in scholarship and food supply,” he added.

For speedy disposal of cases, EOW has established four police stations at its offices in Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur and Meerut.

Earlier, cases were registered at local police stations and were later handed over to EOW for probe.

The officer said after receiving sanction from the state government in 200 cases, the EOW had decided to lodge FIRs against government employees in cases where crime had been detected.

EOW has also received sanction for prosecution in 12 cases of civil supplies, five cases of rural development and nine cases of police department, he added.

“EOW has taken the assistance of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the training of its personnel in multi-level marketing and non-banking financial frauds. Investigation officers, including deputy superintendents of police (DSP), inspectors and others were trained by senior CBI officers,” he said.

In the first week of August, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had directed the state investigation agencies, including EOW, Vigilance, SIT, CB-CID, AntiCorruption Cell and Cooperative Cell, to complete investigation in

corruption cases on priority basis and take action against the accused.

During review, it was found that 300 cases of serious corruption charges were pending with the EOW, 160 with Vigilance, 40 with SIT and 19 with Anti-Corruption Cell.

A senior officer said lawmakers and bureaucrats managed to stall probe against them using their clout.

“They also managed to keep sanction of prosecution pending,” he said.

He said the heads of investigation agencies had been directed to submit evidence against lawmakers and officers accused of corruption so that the government could give green signal for prosecution.

“In several cases it was found that officers had managed to keep charge sheet pending by making representations before the state government alleging that charges were being made to harm his image. The state government is planning to plug all the loopholes so that agencies face no hurdle in collecting evidence,” the officer added.

Majority of corruption cases pending for investigation are from various departments including food and civil supplies, education, social welfare, health, revenue, irrigation and PWD.