The four Ayodhya policemen arrested in Rajasthan for allegedly accepting a ₹ 2.80 lakh bribe, in addition to ₹ 4 lakh earlier, were not expecting a trap when they travelled nearly 800 kilometres to Sikar, to collect the money.
It was at this point that the complainant decided to turn the tables. At the same time, he approached the Rajasthan ACB and lodged a complaint against the policemen. The ACB investigation will determine the criminal liability of the arrested policemen, while the departmental inquiry is expected to establish whether the alleged operation was confined to the four accused or had a wider chain of involvement. The four policemen are facing proceedings under the Prevention of Corruption Act in Rajasthan.
The preliminary probe revealed that the four policemen had initially demanded ₹ 8 lakh from the Sikar man to remove his name from a cyber fraud case registered at the Ayodhya cyber police station in 2024, according to Ayodhya officials. The man allegedly paid ₹ 4 lakh, but instead of closing the matter, the policemen allegedly demanded another ₹ 4 lakh. The four were arrested and ₹ 2.80 lakh was allegedly recovered from their vehicle.
In an official statement shared with the media, the Ayodhya police said Ayodhya senior superintendent of police Gaurav Grover suspended all four policemen — sub-inspector Yashwant Singh and constables Pawan Kumar Tripathi, Sohan Lal and Gaurav Charg — late Tuesday evening and ordered a departmental inquiry following their arrest. He allegedly told the policemen that he would arrange the remaining money and asked them to come to Sikar to collect it. Officials said the departmental probe is expected to examine who knew about the journey, why four policemen travelled to Rajasthan, how their movement and three-day stay in Sikar were authorised or accounted for, and whether any other police personnel were aware of the alleged operation.
