A police assistant sub-inspector in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol district has been suspended and an inquiry ordered after a poultry trader alleged that the officer stopped a vehicle, took four live chickens and abused workers who objected. The action followed complaints submitted during a Jan Vishwas Abhiyan camp, where the officer had been deployed for security duty.
Shahdol Superintendent of Police Sanjay Kumar Agarwal told The Times of India that ASI Deepak Singh Parihar had been assigned to the camp in Bansukli under Jaisinghnagar block. According to the SP, the officer was found in civilian clothes and was accused of misbehaving with people. The department also received a complaint alleging that he had extorted chickens from a poultry trader.
The complaint was filed by Tauqeed Raza, a poultry trader from Amdih village. Raza alleged that Parihar stopped a pickup carrying chickens near Pahariya and forcibly took four live birds. The officer allegedly abused the workers accompanying the vehicle and threatened to assault them if they refused to hand over the chickens.
Raza further alleged that he telephoned the ASI to object to the incident, after which Parihar abused him and challenged him to complain to anyone he wished. The account could not be independently verified from the material available, and the allegations are subject to the departmental inquiry ordered by the police.
The incident reportedly drew the intervention of local villagers, some of whom recorded parts of the confrontation on their mobile phones. Written and oral complaints made during the Jan Vishwas Abhiyan programme subsequently brought the matter to the Shahdol SP’s notice.
The allegations also raised questions about the officer’s conduct while assigned to a public security deployment. Parihar was posted at Sidhi police station but had been sent to Bansukli for security arrangements connected with the chief minister’s Jan Vishwas Abhiyan camp. The SP said the officer had gone elsewhere in civilian clothes instead of remaining at his assigned duty and was accused of abusing and manhandling tribal villagers.
“The officer was deployed at the Jan Vishwas camp. The said ASI was in civil clothes and misbehaving with people. A complaint of extorting chicken was also received. He has been suspended and a probe ordered,” Agarwal told The Times of India.
The suspension is an interim departmental action and does not establish the allegations as proven. The police inquiry will examine the complaints against Parihar, including the alleged seizure of the chickens, threats to the poultry workers, reported mistreatment of villagers and his conduct while deployed for security duty.
