Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rishikant Shukla has been suspended from service after a probe revealed that he amassed assets worth more than ₹100 crore allegedly involving in misuse of power and corruption, according to reports.
A Special Investigation Team was set up following allegation that the officer had amassed immense wealth by involving in extortion and having links to criminal networks.
Rishikant Shukla, who was known to be a specialist in the notorious encounter killings being reported in Uttar Pradesh, allegedly involved in threatening to kill businessmen and gangsters extorting money from them thus building up a business empire in Kanpur.
The Investigation Team has gathered information from businessmen and landowners, who faced threat from the officer, about his unlawful activities.
The officer’s former partner in real estate business Manohar alleged that Shukla threatened to kill him branding him as a gangster, adding that he had lost a parcel of land worth 60 crore.
Rishikant allegedly asked him to hand over the land for seven crore rupees which he accepted as his wife was undergoing treatment for cancer. But when he turned up to get the amount, Rishikant threatened to shoot him pointing his gun at Manohar.
As the probe unearthed assets worth nearly Rs 100 crore that he allegedly amassed through corrupt means, India today reported that the assets, spread across 12 location valuing around Rs 92 crore, are suspected to be benami properties in the name of others.
It is reported that the SIT is set to recover documents of a few additional properties believed to be linked to Shukla.
Along with Akhilesh Dubey, an advocate-turned-gangster, Rishikant Shukla and other officers ran a network based in Kanpur, according to the report.
Shukla has been suspended after investigation team submitted a detailed report to the government highlighting Shukla’s alleged involvement in an extortion and land-grabbing racket operated by Dubey, according to India Today.