Lucknow: A police inspector and a computer operator in Gonda have been suspended after a character verification report wrongly associated an applicant with the criminal record of another man who shared the same name and father’s name, officials said.Superintendent of police Abhishek suspended former Colonelganj station house officer Narendra Pratap Rai and Grade-B computer operator Sanjay Mishra with immediate effect after a preliminary inquiry found lapses in verification. Departmental proceedings have also been initiated against both.Police said Ankit Srivastava, a resident of Basalatpur in Colonelganj, had applied online for a character certificate. His application was routed to the Colonelganj police station through the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) for verification.During the process, police records reflected another person named Ankit Srivastava from Rudauli, whose father’s name also matched the applicant’s. Officials said the computer operator attached the criminal record of the Rudauli resident—against whom an FIR had been registered—to the applicant’s verification report and forwarded it online without confirming identity details.After the issue surfaced, the SP ordered an inquiry by Colonelganj circle officer Anand Rai. The inquiry found the report was prepared only on the basis of the applicant’s name and father’s name, without cross-checking residential address or other identifiers. It also cited supervisory negligence by the then station house officer for failing to ensure mandatory verification procedures were followed.Rai, who is currently posted as in-charge of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, was suspended along with Mishra based on the initial findings, police said.Police carried out a fresh verification after the error was detected and issued a corrected character certificate, which was uploaded to the official website. Further departmental action remains in progress, officials said.
