Patna, Jan. 2: Pressure from the top can cook up recruitment anomalies. Taking note of such an irregularity in the selection of Grade IV employees in a battalion of Bihar Military Police (BMP), its inspector-general Arvind Pandey has sought review of the employment procedure.

A baffled Singh recently shot off a letter to the police headquarters requesting to change the recruitment procedure. Copies of his letter were forwarded to the commandants of different BMP battalions.

Sources in the state police headquarters said Pandey swung into action after he received a complaint from an applicant for the post of bugler in one of the battalions of the BMP stationed in a north Bihar district. Belonging to the Dalit community, the youth claimed that he deemed himself fit for the post as he could handle the bugle better than the candidates selected.

Hearing the complaint, Pandey asked the selected candidates to appear before him and blow the bugle. The commandant of the battalion was also asked to be present.

The examination, recorded on video, revealed the selected candidates’ incompetence for the post of buglers. The complainant performed far better than them.

When Pandey reportedly sought the reason for the complainant’s disqualification, the commandant said: “Sir, upar se pressure tha (Sir, there was pressure from the seniors).”

The commandant tried to convince Pandey that the selected candidates would meet the standard after training but Pandey refused to relent. He said: “What is the harm in selecting the better ones, when we have such options?”

The video footage of the examination conducted by Pandey has reportedly been sent to the office of the director-general of police as evidence.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are several other anomalies in the recruitment process,” said a senior BMP officer.

The officer said the injustice meted out to the Dalit applicant was enough to hint at the anomalies in the recruitment of other candidates in the posts of cook, barber, washer man and gardener in the BMP.

Sources said around 100 posts in Grade IV have been filled up in three battalions of the BMP stationed at Dumraon (Buxar), Darbhanga and Saharsa in the past six months. A number of vacancies in other battalions have been advertised.