SHILLONG, Aug 23: The Meghalaya Police department seems to have been caught on the wrong foot with an inquiry team exposing a “vehicle scam” and blatant overstepping of jurisdiction and authority with regards to procurement of vehicles and their misuse by one police official.
The Shillong Times has accessed a copy of the damning report which was prepared following inquiry into the alleged irregularities and mismanagement in the procurement of vehicles and use of fuel by the Police Headquarters (PHQ).
The charges are wide-ranging and the evidence is overwhelming. Unofficial procurement and non registration of vehicles, discrepancies in documents, questionable allotment and purchase of cheaper models against sanction of expensive variants – the inquiry report exposes it all.
The inquiry team consisted of Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order) MK Singh, Deputy Inspector-General of Police (ER) DNR Marak, Commandant of MLP 1st Battalion CA Lyngwa, SP (Anti-Infiltration) JG Momin and official in-charge of Central Workshop B Khongwir.
The inquiry report, which was prepared, based on perusal of records and documents received from the Police HQ, states that a total of 29 official vehicles were in the personal custody of Assistant Inspector-General of Police (A) Gabriel K Iangrai, who has been accused of stepping beyond his authority and misusing his power leading to the wrongdoings.
Amongst these vehicles one new Scorpio, one new Bolero, two new Swift Dzire and two new Bajaj motorcycles have not been allotted registration numbers due to non-supply of documents by the AIG (A). “Most of these vehicles do not conform to the mandatory BS VI standards and as such they do not comply with the directions of the Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highway, which is a clear-cut violation of norms,” the report says.
In addition to the above, a total number of eight new Bajaj Pulsar 150 cc motorcycles, purchased in 2019, could not be registered since no documents are available.
One Hyundai Verna which is parked at the central workshop at Bishnupur has been allotted a fake number and no registration of the vehicle was done by AIG (A) since no documents are available.
Besides, a total of 24 vehicles are lying on the premises of the central workshop that have been off-road for a significant period of time. Proposal for some of these 24 vehicles for condemnation have already been sent for approval to PHQ, the inquiry report says.
The probe found that as many as 29 vehicles – four Mahindra Scorpio, seven Mahindra Bolero, one Mahindra Bolero Camper, one Mahindra KUV 100, two Mahindra Thar, two Maruti Eeco, five Bajaj Pulsar 150 cc motorcycles, two Yamaha Scooty 125 cc and five TVS 110cc motorbikes – were in the personal custody of the AIG (A) before April 2022 without any orders from the competent authority.
The probe team recorded the statements of several police personnel who were working with the AIG (A).
“Perusal of their statements, reveal that the delivery of most of the vehicles procured by PHQ under various heads were personally managed by Iangrai through various people attached to him. These vehicles were then taken directly on his orders to either the Police Officers’ Mess or MPRO complex where they were kept and the keys of all these vehicles were kept in his official residence. Their statement also reveals a lot of crucial facts which point at glaring mismanagement and misuse of power by the AIG (A),” the probe report states, adding that these vehicles, most without any registration, were used for his personal purpose without any sanction from PHQ. “No log books were ever maintained for these vehicles even though petrol/diesel coupons were issued by the AIG (A) himself on a regular basis,” the report adds.
This list of vehicles includes one Mahindra Scorpio S5, one Mahindra Bolero and one Mahindra KUV 100.
As per the statement of the in-charge of the Police Officers’ Mess, Golf Links, over a period of 2 years and on verbal directions of AIG (A), he had handed over 29 vehicles to Central Workshop, Bishnupur. The vehicles were used by Iangrai for his personal purposes. The very fact that non-registered vehicle like the red coloured Mahindra KUV 100+ bought for SSP CID on April 16, 2019 was unofficially used by Iangrai until May 18, 2022 exhibits the blatant misuse of his position he held.
This particular vehicle was sanctioned under the scheme “Assistance to States/UT 2017-18” for combating illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and was purchased under the Head of Account “2055- Police-115-MPF-(04) – Exp. On modernisation of Dist. Police-51 MV”
The vehicle was delivered to CID by the supplier on April 29, 2019.
Thereafter, CID handed over the vehicle to Iangrai along with related documents and accessories on May 14, 2019 for further necessary action.
As per records found, the vehicle was handed over to the Central Workshop on May 15, 2019 but it could not be established as to how and when this vehicle went back to the custody of the AIG (A) and subsequently handed over to the Central Workshop on June 6, 2022 through the Police Officers’ Mess.
In addition, Iangrai is in possession of one TATA 1212 4×4 truck from 4th MLP Bn (ML02 3022), which on paper is shown as attached to PHQ. As per the statement of the driver, the truck has been continuously utilised for the past one year for the personal work of Iangrai. This truck was used to ferry construction material to his new residential site. Further, no log book was maintained for this vehicle and the diesel coupon for all the transportation of personal goods was issued by Iangrai.
As per records, this vehicle on June 8, 2021 at Sohpian had a km reading of 2,40,464 while currently the km reading of the vehicle is 2,53,467 which shows that it has run around 13,000 km.
Another Bolero Camper (ML05 W 2854), shown on paper as attached to the Police Guest House, is also being personally used by Iangrai.
During inspection of the vehicles at the Central Workshop, the probe team detected one Mahindra Scorpio S5 (chassis no MAITA2SJXL2A10449) handed over on May 18, 2022 without any connected documents. There was no record of the said vehicle at the PHQ either. From which fund the vehicle was purchased remains a mystery, the probe team said.
An important observation made out by the inquiry committee was that the allotment of vehicles from PHQ was not as per the procurement proceedings i.e., when a vehicle is shown procured for one unit, the allotment of the same is not as per the proposal and vehicle allotted to another unit.
In addition to the above observations, it was found that the procurement of vehicles was not done as per sanctioned approved by the Home department.
The Home (Police) department, on March 28, 2019, sanctioned four Mahindra Bolero ZLX Power+ BS IV vehicles at an amount of Rs 29,13,429.
Against the above sanction, the actual procurement was for four Bolero ZLX vehicles (lower and cheaper variant). However, as per the allotment order dated September 20, 2019, only three Bolero ZLX vehicles and one Bolero LX were allotted. It is not clear from where and under what head, the Bolero LX was purchased.
The government sanction was for purchase of four Bolero ZLX vehicles under the MPF Scheme 2018-19.
Supply order was processed for purchase for four vehicles in the GeM portal but no records were found in the file as to when the vehicles were delivered by the firm. However, payment has been made to the firm.
The allotments of Bolero ZLX vehicles were to the DIG (ER), DIG (WR) and DIG (SB) while one Bolero LX was allotted to SP East Khasi Hills.
Also, there is no record for one Bolero ZLX for which supply order was placed with M/s Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
Further, for the Bolero LX which was shown allotted to SP East Khasi Hills, no sanction order is found in the file. Only a tax invoice from M/s Stanley Roy construction, Mawlai and GeM invoice is available in the file. No record for the payment is available.
It could not be ascertained from which scheme or state budget, the Mahindra Bolero LX allotted to SP EKH was procured as there are no records made available.
As per the Home (Police) department letter No HPL.228/2019/9 dated December 23, 2019, sanction was accorded for procurement of four Mahindra Scorpio S11 4WD BHP BS-IV vehicles for the security of the Chief Minister and Home Minister. However, as per the actual procurement, only one S11 variant (A/F) out of the four was procured while remaining vehicles were of lower variant – ML02 5531 and ML05 X 1251 (both S5 variants) and ML05 V 0021 (S3 variant).
Surprisingly, upon receiving of government sanction for the four said vehicles, the file was taken over by Iangrai.
Examination of records proved that the supply order for four Mahindra Scorpio S11 vehicles was directly placed with M/S Stanley Roy. However, neither noting was reflected for the same nor approval on file from competent authority was sought.
There is no paper available showing delivery of these four vehicles. Further, no records of payment made to the firm for the vehicle were found. It clearly reflects that prior government approval was not taken before purchasing different variants of Scorpios which amounts to flouting of rules and regulations, the probe report states.
A perusal of all the above documents clearly indicates that a lot of mismanagement has been done by the AIG (A) in running the Central Workshop even though he was solely responsible for the smooth running of the same.
The workshop is being run in a feudal manner without following any rules and regulations or the chain of command and control. The data also reveals that a lot of manipulations have taken place for the personal whims and fancies of one officer even when senior police officers in PHQ and other units were suffering for requirement of better vehicles.
The conduct of AIG (A) GK Iangrai in the entire matter reflects gross negligence of duties and his conduct in the entire matter is unbecoming of an officer, the inquiry committee said.
The probe team also recommended some suggestions which include constitution of a departmental inquiry against all erring officials to fix the responsibilities for all the lapses that has occurred.
The report says that a high-level fact-finding inquiry should be formed to go into the details of the entire scam, since the present inquiry report may not reflect the entire magnitude of the scam.
A comprehensive SOP should be prepared for procurement of vehicles, handing over, taking over records maintained at more than one place for cross verification of records.
Prima facie, it has to be acknowledged and accepted that record keeping in the department is very poor and as such there is a need for proper overhauling of the mechanism of record keeping. Considering these loopholes, this leads to mismanagement and various malpractices as manifested in this instant case.
The Central Workshop, Bishnupur as it caters to all units of Meghalaya Police should be placed directly under the supervision of an officer not below the rank of the DIG.
A proper mechanism should be kept in place for expediting the condemnation process of vehicles.
The security of Central Motor Workshop, Bishnupur needs to be reviewed and an SOP should be issued in this regard, the report adds.
Coincidentally, just hours before The Shillong Times got access to the report, Iangrai was transferred and posted as the Commandant, Special Forces-10. Whether the transfer is a routine affair or whether it was explicitly done to save the now-tainted official is a question that seems to have no answer, as of now.
