As an IAS officer of the 2013 batch, 35-year-old Jitendra Gupta is a relatively new civil servant – and he faced the ugly side of the system very early in his career.

Jitendra Gupta – a profile

A civil servant eager to bring positive changes in society, Dr Gupta dared to take on the infamous and powerful Entry Mafia of Bihar. For his efforts, the Mafia filed a false corruption case against him, had his house unlawfully raided, and had him imprisoned for a month – all for raising his voice against injustice.

The Patna High Court, the Supreme Court, and the IAS Officers Association rushed to rescue Dr Gupta and get him bailed. Presently, the frivolous charges against Dr Gupta have been dropped and he is continuing his crusade against the Entry Mafia’s rule.

The Logical Indian recently interviewed Jitendra Gupta. We asked him about his journey, his battle with the Entry Mafia, and his aspirations.

Born in a very small backwards village of Uttar Pradesh, Dr Gupta experienced the failure of the system to deliver rights to the citizens.

Jitendra Gupta joined as Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) of Mohania Sub-Division in Kaimur district of Bihar in December 2015.

The Entry Mafia

The “Entry Mafia” has made strong inroads into the police and political class of many Indian states, particularly in Bihar. This Mafia involves thousands of trucks crossing state lines illegally with forged documents and illegal goods.

The Entry Mafia causes losses of hundreds of crores to the State exchequer every year. As per the report of transport department of Bihar, overloading is an offence and serious public nuisance in Bihar. It causes great loss of revenue to the Government, accidents and loss of human life, damage to property, law and order problems, vehicular pollution, damage to public property like roads and bridges and is a prime reason for corruption at inter-state check posts (Letter No.539 dated 29.01.16 of principal secretary of transport department, Patna for your reference. It can be seen on the official website of transport dept, Patna).

Dr Gupta’s encounters with the Entry Mafia

While serving as SDO, it was officially brought to his notice that overloaded vehicles illegally pass through the Integrated Check Post located at the border of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in his sub-division and run through National Highway No-2 (NH-2), which also passed through his Sub-Division.

“It was brought before me that police officials seize these overloaded vehicles and park them over NH-2 which not only hampers the ongoing work of widening and six-laning of NH-2 but also causes accidents and law and order problems. Overloading is an offence under Motor Vehicle Act and these overloaded vehicles cause revenue loss to the Government and accidents lead to loss of innocent lives. I was officially requested by the National Highway Authority of India and formally ordered by my District Magistrate and Transport Department of Government of Bihar to seriously act against overloading. I deputed civil and police officers for regularly checking overloaded vehicles and thereafter properly park them at earmarked places and taking necessary legal action against them. I stopped police to park these overloaded vehicles on NH-2 and from taking illegal money from defaulter trucks and release them without fine. I also stopped employees of transport department from taking illegal money from over height vehicles and stopped those officials who do not have any power in overloading from acting on their own whims and fancies.”

False complaint filed against Jitendra Gupta

As a result of Gupta’s legal and official action, the ‘Entry Mafia’ involved in overloading were facing heavy economic losses and their black earnings were severely affected. “To get me out of the way, one infamous and notorious Entry Mafia leader, namely Arvind Kumar, in connivance with some truckers, hatched a criminal conspiracy and lodged a false complaint against me in Vigilance Police Station at Patna on 8 July 2016.”

The complaint alleged that Dr Jitendra Gupta seized four trucks on and later demanded a bribe for releasing them.

Jitendra Gupta arrested

Consequent to that false and frivolous complaint by the Entry Mafia, the Vigilance Department, without doing any investigations, arrested Jitendra Gupta in the midnight of 12 July 2016.

Dr Gupta told The Logical Indian, “I was jailed for about a month and released on regular bail on 10 August 2016. After my release, I filed a Criminal Writ in the Honourable Patna High Court for quashing of FIR and setting aside all consequent investigations. Since the complaint against me was false and part of criminal conspiracy to take vengeance and harass me, my criminal writ succeeded and the FIR was quashed by the honourable Patna High Court on 28 October.”

In October 2016, the Patna High Court overthrew the FIR filed against Gupta. It was proved in the court of law that the complaint was false. In fact, no incide…