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A senior Meghalaya police officer has taken his Department for a ride. An internal inquiry revealed that Assistant Inspector-General of Police (Administration), Gabriel K. Iangrai kept 30 official vehicles, including a truck, in his personal custody till April 2022. If that were not enough, a few of these vehicles had not been registered while one – a sedan – sported a fake number.
A five-member team that conducted the inquiry was headed by the State’s Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order), M. K. Singh.
The team prepared a report a few days ago following an inquiry into the alleged irregularities and mismanagement in the procurement of vehicles and the use of fuel by the police headquarters. The Hindu has a copy of the report that indicates the officer overstepped his jurisdiction and authority in the procurement and use of these vehicles.
The charges against the officer, now the commandant of a special force of the Meghalaya police, range from unofficial procurement, non-registration of vehicles and discrepancies in documents to questionable allotment and purchase of cheaper models against sanction of expensive variants.
The report, based on records received from the police headquarters and central workshop, said the officer kept at his disposal 29 vehicles including SUVs, sedans, a pick-up and 10 motorcycles.
“Of these, two new SUVs, two new sedans and two new motorcycles were not registered. Most of the vehicles at his disposal do not conform to the latest emission standards,” the report said.
“In addition, eight motorcycles purchased in 2019 had no documents and were unregistered,” the report said while faulting Mr. Iangrai for not registering another sedan “allotted a fake number” and parked at the central workshop.
Citing the statements of seven low-ranked police personnel who worked with Mr. Iangrai, the report said the vehicles were taken directly on his orders to either the police officers’ mess or the Meghalaya Police Radio Organisation complex where they were kept. “The keys of all these vehicles were kept in his official residence,” it said.
“Often, these vehicles without any registration were used for his personal purpose without any sanction from the police headquarters. No log books were ever maintained for these vehicles even though POL/DOL (petrol/diesel) coupons were issued by AIG(A) himself on a regular basis,” the report said.
“Apart from the 29 smaller vehicles, the officer was found to have used a truck of the 4 th Meghalaya Police Battalion for a year for his personal work, mainly to ferry construction material to his new residential site. No log book was maintained for this vehicle,” the report said.
Three vehicles that were not registered but used by the officer for various purposes had logged a total of 11,294KM. The year of purchase of two of them could not be ascertained.
The report also panned the workshop “being run in a feudal manner” without following any rules and regulations or the chain of command and control.
“The data reveal that a lot of manipulations have taken place for the personal whims and fancies of one officer even when senior police officers in the police headquarters and other units were suffering for requirement of better vehicles,” it said.
