Pioneer News Service
Ranchi
Opposition Leader Babulal Marandi questioned why only IAS officers are being arrested in corruption cases. He remarked that while the long arm of the law manages to reach their collars, why hasn’t the heat of investigation touched the influential bosses of the police establishment (IPS officers)? Why hasn’t a single IPS officer ended up behind bars to date?
Posting on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, he stated that when IAS officers involved in corruption and the looting of the state exchequer can be sent to jail, who has granted this ‘impenetrable protective shield’ to khaki-clad IPS officers?
Marandi noted that since the creation of Jharkhand as a separate state, we have seen several top IAS officers go behind bars for the grave sin of corruption. Investigative agencies took action, proving that a section of the administrative machinery was eroding the state like termites. But can such a massive empire of crime and corruption run without police complicity? In a state where illegal trade worth billions in coal, sand, stone, and iron ore operates brazenly in broad daylight, is it possible without police patronage?
He added that news breaks almost daily regarding the shady business of illegal land deals, open extortion, police nexus with notorious criminal outfits like the Sujit Sinha gang, and even the grabbing of innocent tribals’ lands where police officers are named. Serious allegations were even leveled against a former DGP for links to international criminal gangs. While the state’s dignity was repeatedly plundered, why hasn’t a single IPS officer been sent behind bars to date?
Raising further questions, he asked whether it is possible for such a large nexus of organized crime and mafias to operate in the state without the involvement of any IPS officer. What kind of system is this where the law reaches the collars of IAS officers, yet the heat of investigation does not even touch the influential bosses of the police force?
He said that rising above party politics, the whole of Jharkhand needs to reflect on this disparity today. The few honest IAS and IPS officers in the state must also think seriously about what ‘invisible shield’ protects top police officials in this decayed system. When punishment and disrepute fall solely on the IAS, why do IPS officers enjoy this privilege of total immunity?
