Nithari CO transferred following sting 'expose'

Lucknow, Feb 2: Nithari Circle Officer (CO) Noida Dinesh Yadav was today transferred following a sting operation by a private news channel in which he claimed to have spoken to a senior Uttar Pradesh minister a day before a special police team was to visit the scene of crime.

A day after the channel broadcast the expose, Yadav was transferred to Agra-based 14th battalion of PAC.

According to the sting operation, there is evidence that the Nithari CO and the minister spoke to each other thrice within 16 minutes on January 1, just a day before a special police team was to visit the scene. The exact content of this conversation is not known.

The expose claims that on January 5, Yadav spoke to Samajwadi Party MP from Lakhimpur Ravi Prakash Verma. Incidentally, on the same day the police official accompanied prime accused in the murders, Moninder Singh Pandher and co accused Surender Koli to Gujarat for a narco-analysis test.

In a brief interaction with reporters here, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav refused to comment on the Nitheri serial killings and related issues. ''The matter is with the CBI...it is under investigation by that agency,'' he said.

UNI