UP Police Officer caught using stolen car for 2 years

Station House Officer (SHO) of Kanpur’s Bithoor police station is found using a car that was stolen two years ago. In a bizarre incident, the owner of the car who lost the vehicle two years ago got a feedback call from the service centre. Stunned by the shocking incident, when he asked more about service details, the service centre personnel said that the vehicle had been returned to the station officer of Bithoor Police Station.

Via HT

The SHO identified as Kaushalendra Pratap Singh is using the stolen vehicle for personal use. A case of the lost car was registered two years ago by the owner Omendra Soni. Interestingly, SHO Kaushalendra Pratap Singh was also involved in the Bikru Ambush, in which eight policemen were killed by the gangster Vikas Duber and his men on July 3rd this year.

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Omendra Soni reported that the car was stolen from a car washing centre on December 31st 2018. He lodged an FIR with the Barra police but the case was closed after the police could not find the lost vehicle. It is not known if Omendra received any kind of insurance claim on the lost vehicle.

On Wednesday, Soni got a call from KTL service centre asking if he is satisfied with the service of his vehicle. Omendra said he was shocked when the service centre personnel shared the exact details of the vehicle which he lost two years ago. The service centre told him that he is getting the call because of his WagonR, which he lost was service a few days ago and it is a feedback call.

Omendra went to the service centre to get more details. To his surprise, the service centre told him that they returned the vehicle to SHO Bithoord, Kaushlendra Pratap Singh on December 22 after service. Soni was wondering why the police did not inform him after they recovered the stolen vehicle.

Vehicle found lying abandoned

SHO Singh, in his defence, says that he found the car abandoned at a roadside. He seized the vehicle because there was no one to claim the car. He did not reveal where did he find the car lying abandoned and the exact date and time of the event. As per procedure, Bithoor Police should have informed Barra Police about the recovery of the vehicle. However, no such intimidations were made.

Police cannot use seized vehicles

The Kanpur IG range – Mohit Agarwal confirmed that the vehicles seized by the cops in any kind of case cannot be used by the personnel. It is against the law but it is not the first of its kind incident happening in Uttar Pradesh. Currently, an inquiry is initiated by Mohit Agarwal and he also confirmed that serious action will be ordered if anyone is found responsible for this incident. The police have not shared any information on the charges that they will press against the SHO and what kind of action will be taken by them.

In March 2020, three police officials took a seized Mahindra Scorpio to “investigate a case”. The owner of the Scorpio found out that the vehicle is on the road and got suspicious. He used his GPS security system to track the vehicle and locked the SUV remotely that trapped the police officers in the car for hours.

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