Gabriel Iangrai, the suspended police officer under suspicion of various crimes, has accused his boss, Director General of Police Lajja Ram Bishnoi, of “criminal conspiracy” with regards to the use of a luxury car meant for his official use.
Iangrai was first arrested in 2022 when he was the Assistant Inspector General of Police (Administration) after an investigation into a vehicle scam. He was also subsequently charged with diversion of construction funds and supply of dry rations.
The AIG-A is effectively the eyes and ears of the DGP in matters of administration. The alleged crimes by Iangrai pre-dated the arrival of Bishnoi as DGP in May 2022.
An internal inquiry had found that Iangrai was involved in the acquisition of 29 vehicles that were unregistered and which were deployed for his personal use.
With just 10 days to go before he leaves his post as DGP, Bishnoi has now been accused by Iangrai of misusing a vehicle.
In his FIR registered at Sadar police station today, Iangrai quoted from the inquiry committee report from 2022 about a Hyundai Verna parked at the central workshop which had “been allotted a fake number and no registration of the vehicle was done by the AIG-A (Iangrai), since no documents are available.”
Iangrai shot back today, saying that the report appears to have been written in “an easy chair”, i.e. without making a physical inspection or cross-checking the Transport Department records.
According to information provided through a Right to Information (RTI) request last year, Iangrai said that the record shows that the Hyundai in question was registered with the Transport Department with the licence plate number ML 02 A 0001 under the Director General of Police as an official police vehicle.
Iangrai then accused Bishnoi of switching this number plate to a Kia Carnival Limousine vehicle that had been registered with the Assam government, which he arrived in Shillong in when he took charge as DGP in May 2022.
The FIR then went on to accuse Bishnoi of using this Kia for his personal use even though it is a vehicle requisitioned for the police force. Use of the vehicle as a police car also violates police rules as the DGP is only entitled to use a vehicle that costs up to Rs 12 lakh, while a new Kia Carnival Limousine costs up to Rs 40 lakh, Iangrai added.
Bishnoi is thus, in Iangrai’s eyes, guilty of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust as well as forgery. The suspended officer also called for the members of the inquiry committee that nailed him over the alleged vehicle scam to also face action based on the information provided in the Transport Department RTI.
