LUCKNOW, March 29 -- The Uttar Pradesh Vigilance Establishment has registered an FIR against suspended station house officer (SHO) Panna Lal at Gorakhpur sector police station for allegedly amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The case was registered on March 20, officials said.

Panna Lal's name had surfaced earlier in a high-profile extortion racket in Ballia district in July 2024. He went absconding after suspension over allegations of illegal collections from truck drivers along the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border in the Narhi area and was arrested in Gorakhpur on July 28, 2024. He was accused of running an organised extortion network involving police personnel and middlemen.

Earlier, on July 25, 2024, police h...