CRPF jawan from TN named in CBI FIR
A CRPF jawan hailing from Tamilnadu is among the list of accused in a case being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation over allegations of bribes being demanded and received from failed candidates for inducting them into the force’s elite CoBRA unit three years ago.
CoBRA is a specialised force raised within the CRPF for guerilla and jungle warfare-type operations for dealing with extremists and insurgents. An FIR in this regard was lodged after a few constables who had participated in the pre-induction training at the CoBRA School of Jungle Warfare and Tactics in Belgaum in 2018 and had failed, later managed to get inducted into the CoBRA unit.
The CBI booked Shashi Kanwar, Manoj Kumar, Rahul Rathi, Velmurugan, Mohith Kumar Rathi all working in various offices of CoBRA and Sandeep Kumar, ex-CoBRA along with unknown officials of CoBRA and CSJW-T as accused on charges of criminal conspiracy, abusing their official position and demanding and accepting legal gratification to induct failed candidates into the CoBRA Battalion by illegal means. The accused CRPF jawan from Tamil Nadu has been identified as Vel Murugan, posted in Delhi and is a native of Andipatti, Theni.
The complainants had alleged that the constables had demanded and obtained bribes from the failed trainee-constables for inducting them into the CoBRA unit. An internal inquiry revealed that bribes of Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000 were charged by five personnel of the CRPF from failed candidates who were later selected into the elite unit, the CBI FIR stated.