Neeraj Pandey, Ejaz Khan. Bhopal/Katni19 minutes ago
Katni City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Neha Pachisia is facing fresh allegations after a transporter’s complaint of alleged extortion. The family of a murder case accused has now made serious allegations against her, claiming they were pressured to sell land, broker a deal and pay ₹75 lakh in exchange for getting the accused released from jail.
The complaint has reportedly reached senior police officials, the Chief Minister, the Human Rights Commission and the court.
The Inspector General (IG) has assigned an inquiry into both the alleged extortion complaint by the transporter and the allegations made by the murder accused to Jabalpur Additional SP Anu Beniwal.
What are the murder accused’s allegations?
Katni Police arrested Akash Lodhi on April 3, 2026, as the main accused in the murder of a tribal youth.
Akash alleges that after his arrest, Kuthla police station in-charge Rajendra Mishra and CSP Neha Pachisia pressured his family to sell their land.
According to him, his father, Ramesh Lodhi, was allegedly made to sit at the CSP’s residence for two days. On April 15, he was allegedly taken in a government vehicle to register land bearing Khasra No. 2618/1, measuring 2.15 hectares, in Kanhwara village.
The land had a guideline value of around ₹82 lakh, but was allegedly sold for ₹1.07 crore. According to the allegation, a cheque of ₹15 lakh was handed over at the time of registration, while the remaining ₹92 lakh was promised within seven days.
‘Pay ₹75 lakh if you want to get out of jail’
Akash alleges that after his family did not receive the land payment, his father complained through the Chief Minister’s helpline and raised an objection to the mutation of the property.
Ramesh Lodhi and his son-in-law, Satish Lodhi, were subsequently arrested and sent to jail, according to the complaint.
Despite the objection, the land was allegedly mutated in the name of Maruf Ahmed Hanafi.
Akash claims that after this, the victim’s family and the CSP allegedly demanded ₹75 lakh from them.
He alleges that the family was told that if they wanted to get out of jail, they would have to pay ₹75 lakh, after which statements in court would be changed and all the accused would be released.
Akash made these allegations after securing default bail on July 7, around three months after his arrest in the murder case.
Controversy began with alleged bribery demand
The complaints against Neha Pachisia initially emerged from a complaint by transport businessman Mahendra Kumar Jain.
Jain alleged that on the night of July 21, his Hyva trucks carrying legally transported sand and dolomite were stopped during vehicle checking and ₹30,000 was demanded.
According to the allegation, ₹25,000 was allegedly collected in cash at the spot, while the remaining ₹5,000 was allegedly sought the following day through the CSP’s driver.
However, the complainant later withdrew his allegations and said that no action had been taken on his complaint.
Driver suspended, 3 police stations removed from CSP’s jurisdiction
Katni SP Abhinay Vishwakarma suspended CSP’s driver, Constable Keshav Singh, with immediate effect based on the complaint and available evidence.
The jurisdiction of Kuthla, Madhav Nagar and Ranganath Nagar police stations was also removed from CSP Neha Pachisia and handed over to AJAK DSP Shiva Pathak.
Mahendra Kumar Jain maintained that all his vehicles were involved in legal transportation and alleged that money was forcibly collected in the name of checking.
He said he had approached the SP with evidence seeking justice but claimed that no effective action was taken on his complaint.
Officials: Further action after inquiry
Attempts were made to contact CSP Neha Pachisia for her response to the allegations. She reportedly did not answer two calls.
Katni Additional SP Kamal Maurya said the driver was suspended and changes were made to the police station jurisdictions on the instructions of senior officers.
He added that the statement of complainant Mahendra Jain had already been recorded.
Following the IG’s directions, Jabalpur ASP Anu Beniwal will investigate the allegations of alleged extortion from the transporter, delays in issuing challans and other complaints.
Beniwal said all allegations were being investigated and statements of the concerned parties were being recorded. She said further action would be decided only after the inquiry is completed.
Katni has seen earlier controversies involving woman CSP
Before Neha Pachisia, Katni’s woman CSP Khyati Mishra had also been in the news over a controversy related to her personal life.
A dispute involving her husband Shailendra Mishra and then-SP Abhijit Ranjan had attracted considerable attention.
Mishra was subsequently transferred, after which Neha Pachisia was given charge as Katni CSP. She is now facing allegations of a serious nature herself.
