I Paid Rs 24 Lakh to a Person ‘Close’ to Shivraj, MP Cop Reveals
The Quint exposes Madhya Pradesh cops’ attempt to suppress an officer’s claim he bribed a person close to Shivraj.
advertisement
Why Someone ‘Close’ to Shivraj Chouhan Got a Rs 24 Lakh Pay-Off
- A senior cop posted in Madhya Pradesh tells The Quint he paid Rs 24 lakh to a person “very close” to the CM for a prime posting.
- A colleague of the officer confirms that he did attempt committing suicide.
- The bribe money was returned to the officer when the posting did not come through.
- Senior police officers close to Shivraj Singh Chouhan involved in quid pro quo deal with RL Borana, officer concerned.
A senior Madhya Pradesh police officer paid Rs 24 lakh as a consideration to a person “very close” to state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh with the assurance that the person would swing his transfer from a relatively obscure post to a more influential position in 2010.
With the multi-crore Vyapam scam damaging the reputation of the BJP in general and the chief minister in particular, especially when criminal cases have been lodged against several party leaders, including former minister Lakshmikant Sharma, the officer’s revelations to The Quint on July 15 is another indication of the involvement of people very close to Shivraj in fixing transfers and postings of officials across most ranks.
“I was a deputy inspector-general in 2010 when I paid Rs 24,00,000, through a broker, to the person close to the CM. That person had agreed to fix my transfer to a better post. At that time, I was posted at police headquarters and wanted to move to a field position”
—R L Borana, who retired as DIG in 2011, to The Quint over phone
Following his retirement, Borana has been living in Bagcha village in Mandsaur district.
Promise Not Kept
According to Borana, the person very close to the CM took the money but never fulfilled the promise. “I waited a long time, but when nothing happened, I threatened to commit suicide. I had written a two-page suicide note, but was dissuaded from taking the extreme step by three officers, including the then Director-General of Police S K Rout, the then Inspector-General (Bhopal) Shailendra Srivastava and the CM’s secretary Sarbjit Singh (an IPS officer),” Borana alleged.
Borana wanted a prime posting for which he paid a huge amount of money to a person extremely close to Shivraj Chouhan through a middleman who is a liquor businessman. Frustrated that his sought-after posting did not come through, despite paying a bribe, Borana tried to hang himself in the police officers’ mess. At that time, another DIG, V Janardhan, who was at the mess retrieved the suicide note and passed it on to his superiors.
— K K Mishra, Madhya Pradesh Congress’ Chief Spokesman to The Quint from Bhopal over phone
Officer Confirms Suicide Attempt
When contacted over phone, Janardhan, who is now chief vigilance officer at the Southeastern Coalfields Ltd, admitted that Borana tried to commit suicide and he had intervened to prevent him from taking the step. “He tried to commit suicide by hanging himself on top of a vehicle in the police mess garage. I happened to be around and rushed to save him. Luckily, the rope broke. He fell unconscious. I gathered some of the mess staff and rushed him to Hamidia Hospital (in Bhopal) where he was given treatment. But I did not recover any suicide note. I do not remember who did,” Janardhan recalled.
Borana today claims that “while the money was returned to him, the three officers bought my silence with a quid pro quo – I would not go public on the bribe I paid to that person while they would help me resolve a problem related to a 1 acre land whose mutation had not been done.”
Suicide Note Suppressed
Claiming that Shivraj Chouhan’s personal secretary, IPS officer Sarbjit Singh [who is now additional director-general (intelligence)] was also present at Rout’s official residence.
They asked me to keep quiet about the bribery matter. Srivastava (who is now the state transport commissioner) took away the suicide note at the time, but I had distributed copies of it among some of my relatives and a former Congress MP Premchand Borasi alias Guddu.
— RL Borana
When contacted Borasi said that the suicide note was passed on to one of his friends.
“I was kept in a secluded house with round-the-clock surveillance. I was not allowed to meet my relatives,” Borana said, adding that his superior officers could have easily spoken with the collector concerned to settle the mutation issue. “But they reneged,” he said.
When The Quint spoke to Srivastava over phone, he said contradictory things. He first said the suicide issue was “not in my knowledge” and Borana “never spoke to me.” According to Srivastava, “If he is saying these things, he is a liar. Nothing like this happened.” When pressed with a specific question, Srivastava slipped and admitted that Borana “attempted suicide” but then quickly recovered to claim that “he was doing exercise when there was an accident.”
Laboured Denial
Srivastava now says that Borana “gave it in writing that it was an accident.” On his part, Borana admitted that “I had given it in writing that it was an accident, but only after the three officers promised to help me resolve the mutation matter. The condition was that I will not speak about the bribery issue and they would help me get back my money and use their good offices to take care of the mutation.”
After several phone calls, Sarbjit Singh called back to say: “My version is that Borana is a responsbile officer and he could not have made these allegations. I am not aware of what he has told you which only you are privy to.” Singh, however, admitted he was aware of Borana’s attempt to take his own life as also to the fact that he was Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s officer-on-special duty.
Like Srivastava, Rout too dismissed Borana’s allegations, claiming that the retired DIG “cannot be relied upon” and that “he had given it in writing that he did not try to commit suicide and that it was a mere accident.”