At least 50 police station heads in Bihar have either been suspended or sent to police lines in the last three years for their alleged collusion with private vehicle drivers in collecting bribes from the state’s liquor and sand mafia, The Indian Express has learnt. The reason: a massive paucity of official police drivers, which compels the Bihar police to engage private vehicles.
Response to RTI application by activist Shiv Prakash Rai showed that against 10,390 sanctioned driver posts of the constable and head constable levels, only 3,488 posts are filled. This is despite the Bihar Police having 9,465 vehicles.
Consider this:
* In December last year, Buxar Police sent its Town police station in-charge Sanjay Kumar Sinha to police lines after a viral video showed him allegedly extorting money from vehicles. The purported video showed him in a private vehicle hired by a private driver. It was alleged the police station in-charge colluded with private drivers in extorting vehicle owners.
* In April this year, Muzaffarpur Police suspended seven policemen for their alleged collusion with the sand and liquor mafia. Role of private vehicle drivers is also being probed.
* In Bhagalpur, 27 police station in-charges have engaged private vehicles with drivers, followed by 24 by Vaishali police station in-charge, 19 by Buxar police station in-charge and 10 by Munger police station in-charge.
*Two deputy superintendents of police in East Champaran (Motihari) and one deputy SP in Darbhanga have been also using private vehicles and drivers, as have four circle-inspectors in Lakhisarai and one circle inspector in Bagaha and Bhagalpur.
Patna has 704 sanction posts for constable drivers and 166 head constable drivers. But the state capital has only 252 constable drivers and 109 head constable drivers. Some of the massively under-staffed districts include Araria (56 against 166 sanctioned posts), Sitamarhi (57 against 203 posts), Buxar (40 against 138 posts) and Munger (59 against 122 posts).
As a result, the Bihar Police has currently hired as many as 130 private vehicles, has learnt. According to sources, in many cases the police verification of these private drivers has not been done.
According to a senior police officer, filling up police driver posts “has seldom been a priority”. “The district police often have to hire private vehicles with private drivers, whose criminal antecedents are not often verified. This is where there are chances of police officers colluding with these drivers, who can work as collection agents,” the officer said.
Another police officer said that after prohibition was enforced in Bihar in 2016, police station in-charges have been under scanner. “Private drivers working with police stations are often vulnerable to corruption,” he said.
When contacted, Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Kundan Krishnan told The Indian Express: “Recruitment for these posts (police drivers) are underway. Advertisement will be out shortly”.
