Arrest warrant for retired I G

Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh, Aug 4 (UNI) A special court has issued arrest warrant for retired Inspector General of Police Madan Gopal Pande and a relative on the charge of cheating in the recruitment of police personnel in Naxal-hit Bastar division in undivided Madhya Pradesh.

Special Judge (anti-corruption) V K Kashyap issued the warrant yesterday as the prosecution, while filing the charge sheet, said Pande and his distant relative Arun Sharma were absconding.

The prosecution said in 1999 the state government sanctioned recruitment of 175 police personnel in Bastar and Dantewada districts for anti-Naxal operations. Though the Superintendent of Police of the district concerned were empowered for recruitment, Pande, who was then posted as I G Bastar range, conducted the recruitment.

According to the charge-sheet, Pande issued posting orders to 27 people after collecting bribe of Rs 80,000 each from them with the help of his relative Arun Sharma, but they were retrenched after 11 months.

All appointees were shown as bonafide residents of Bastar division, but scrutiny of their residential, caste and education certificates showed them as residents of Morena district.

Government pleader Shakil Raza said the case was registered in 2002 on a complaint from a victim, Matasharan Sharma, resident of Jaura in Morena district.

UNI XC-SP YA VV1617