Station House Officer (SHO) of Bhadrachalam Prohibition and Excise Station, Rahimunnisa Begum, and constable Ch Ravi Kumar have been suspended for allegedly forging a panchanama in a ganja case to cover up the escape of an accused from the custody earlier this month.

Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise C. Hari Kiran issued the suspension orders following an enquiry report submitted by the Deputy Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise, Khammam, official sources said.

The Excise Enforcement team arrested two persons , Madhaba Hantal of Odisha and Budhra of Chhattisgarh in Bhadrachalam on August 4 and seized 4.58 kg of dry ganja from their possession.

The duo was handed over to the Bhadrachalam Excise Station the same day. However, Madhaba allegedly escaped from the custody of the station staff at around 5.40 a.m. on August 5.

According to the enquiry report, the SHO allegedly tampered with the panchanama by forging the signatures of the detecting officers and panchas instead of following the prescribed procedure after the accused escaped.

The report stated that the allegedly forged panchanama was submitted to the court, showing that only one accused had been arrested while the other was absconding, in an alleged attempt to suppress the facts of the case.

The enquiry report also flagged serious lapses, including the alleged attempt by the SHO to mislead the court by submitted the forged panchanama and related documents.