Patna, Feb. 11: The IPS “whistle-blower” who detected gross irregularities in the recruitment of grade IV employees in the Bihar Military Police (BMP) has been moved out.

Arvind Pandey, a 1988 batch officer of the Bihar cadre, is among the 99 senior police officers transferred by the government on Thursday night.

Pandey, posted as inspector-general, BMP, has been transferred to the criminal investigation department (CID) at the state police headquarters in the same rank. The CID posting, police sources said, is considered a lesser one.

Pandey had shot off a letter to the Bihar director-general of police on February 1, hinting at the problem faced by him in the investigation into the “recruitment scam” in the BMP. The letter, a copy of which is with The Telegraph, said he wanted to meet the chief minister to apprise him of the anomalies in recruitment of grade IV employees in two battalions of the BMP.

“Even after repeated reminders to provide the documents related to the appointment of grade IV employees in the 13th battalion of the BMP, the commandant did not bother to reply to my order,” the letter said, adding that he might have to face more trouble regarding investigation into the scam.

The IG’s letter said recruitment in the 13th battalion was done in gross violation of the prescribed norms. Even the provisions of reservation for scheduled caste/scheduled tribes and other backward classes were not followed by the commandant in the recruitment, the letter pointed out.

The IG had recommended immediate transfer of the commandant due to the latter’s “non-cooperative” attitude. “The commandant abused his official position to give benefits to non-deserving candidates, who were finally selected as cook, barber, tailor, bugler, electrician, nursing staff and carpenter,” the letter said.

The letter further stated that the commandant’s act of omission and commission was a deliberate attempt to cause damage to the good governance policy of the government. “Even documents related to the appointment have been tampered with to cause institutional loss to the 13th battalion of the BMP,” the IG said in his letter.

Director-general of police Neel Mani had stayed the joining of the selected candidates after the IG detected irregularities in the recruitment of grade IV employees in BMP 13 (Darbhanga) and BMP-4 (Dumraon) battalions last year. The DGP had also constituted a three-member committee to probe the anomalies.

BMP 13 commandant Ajay Kumar was not available for his comments.

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