Amitabh Bachchan a ‘police informer’ in Jharkhand

RANCHI - Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has worked as an “informer” of the Jharkhand Police, or so the police want the people to believe.

The shocking police claim was exposed during a court hearing earlier this week in which the government said money from a police fund was distributed by Jharkhand Police to some bogus informers, including one named Amitabh Bachchan, on the pretext of getting details about Maoists’ activities.

The scam, involving Rs.8 crore, is related to the Secret Service Fund (SSF) of the Special Branch of the state police that is used to distribute money among informers.

The alleged scam was exposed last month by an informer who was made to receive payments under the assumed name of Amitabh Bachchan.

A letter written by “Amitabh Bachchan” to Chief Secretary A.K. Sharma last month gave details of the fraud perpetrated by former director general of police V.D. Ram.

During the hearing on a public interest litigation (PIL), the state government in an affidavit Aug 22 told the Jharkhand High Court that it was not averse to a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the SSF scam.

Ram, currently posted as director general of fire brigade services, is under the scanner for misusing over Rs.8 crore from the fund.

The money was withdrawn on two occasions in cash to be distributed among police informers.

The police informer from Giridih district, who wrote to the chief secretary, alleged that Ram forced him to sign a document.

The document on which he signed was related to payment of Rs.21 lakh but he got only Rs.10,000, said the informer.

The informer, in his letter, alleged that two bills of Rs.18 lakh and Rs.3 lakh respectively were signed by him on the instructions of the former police chief.

According to sources, the chief secretary, in his report to the high court, said that Rs.5.60 crore was withdrawn till the end of the 2005-06 financial year from SSF and Rs.2.40 crore was withdrawn in 2006 in the name of “Mission Divide” at Morhabadi by Ram.

The next hearing in the case is on Saturday.