2 GST officials in UP charged with murder of truck driver from Punjab

Kanpur (UP): Two senior Goods and Service Tax (GST) officials in the city have been charged with murder after a truck driver was found dead in the cabin of his vehicle, police said on Tuesday.

Joint commissioner of police Anand Prakash Tiwari said the FIR was registered against GST joint commissioners Amit Mohan and Paras Nath, along with some unnamed department officials, after a son of the truck driver, Balbir Singh from Ludhiana (Punjab), alleged that his father was physically assaulted and wrongfully confined for three days.

The complainant, Govind Singh, also said his father had urged the officials to release him so that he could attend the funeral of his other son back home, but Balbir’s plea fell on deaf ears.

Meanwhile, trader groups said Balbir was forcefully confined to his truck even as he kept weeping for his dead son for three days. He was found dead in the cabin of his truck on Sunday.

After traders demanded that stringent action be taken against the accused officials within 72 hours, the police registered an FIR in the case on the complaint of Balbir’s son Govind Singh, who reached Kanpur on Monday.

In his complaint, Govind said his father informed him that he was detained for some irregularities concerning his scrap-laden truck. “I learnt about his (Balbir Singh) death on Sunday evening when I got a call from police who informed me that my father was found dead in the cabin of his truck,” Govind said.

Gyanesh Mishra, the general secretary of Kanpur Udyog Vyapar Mandal, said the GST officials were wrong in detaining the driver of a truck that was already in their custody.

Meanwhile, GST officials in Kanpur were not available for a comment on the issue.