A routine verification process at the Saharanpur Police Lines turned into a significant revelation last week, exposing an attempted fraud in the Uttar Pradesh Police constable recruitment.
Police officials reported that the training for a new batch of women constables was about to commence when an unexpected discrepancy in numbers prompted a deeper inquiry.
Inspector Virendra Bahadur, who was in charge of overseeing the training process, filed a complaint noting that the police team had been expecting 249 trainees to report for the program, but surprisingly, 250 women arrived.
“We immediately knew something was off. There was one extra person in the batch,” Bahadur stated in his official report.
This seemingly small mismatch triggered a thorough examination of the documentation provided by each recruit. During this process, Inspector Bahadur noticed an unusual detail—five of the women trainees were named Meenakshi.
Upon closer inspection of their application forms and identification documents, Bahadur discovered inconsistencies in the credentials of one of them.
The roll number on this particular Meenakshi’s documentation raised a red flag—it matched the roll number of a different recruit already undergoing training at Amroha, a separate training centre. Furthermore, the father’s name listed on her documents did not align with any verified records. These contradictions made it clear that something was amiss.
As a result of this discovery, a formal First Information Report (FIR) was registered on June 21 at the Sadar Bazar police station in Saharanpur.
The FIR invoked relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) about document forgery and cheating. The accused, identified as Meenakshi (22) from Agra, was taken into custody and later remanded to judicial custody by the magistrate.
Police officials said the incident underscores the importance of stringent verification during recruitment processes, especially in law enforcement, where integrity and authenticity are paramount.
Investigations are currently ongoing to determine if the accused acted alone or was part of a broader racket involving forged documents for police recruitment.