NEW DELHI, Sept 18: Authorities in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh said on Tuesday that they have sacked thousands of policemen accused of paying bribes to get into the force.

The Press Trust of India news agency said 3,964 policemen were fired on Tuesday, bringing the number of dismissals to 11,638 — or around 10 per cent of the total force — since the law enforcement clean-up was launched a week ago.

Officials in India’s most populous state said 22,000 men were illicitly recruited under former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Mayawati Kumari, the current chief minister, who hails from India’s most oppressed caste and has vowed to fight corruption, has alleged that the recruits were only given their positions after paying huge bribes.

Uttar Pradesh has more than 110,000 men and women in uniform but also has one of India’s highest crime rates.

The report is the latest bad news for police in northern India.

Officers in the adjoining state of Bihar, another area with a reputation for lawlessness, are embroiled in a scandal over mob lynchings of suspected criminals.

Last week 10 men suspected of burglary were beaten to death by villagers in the state in a sign of mounting frustration with police.

Officers then reportedly dumped the bodies of the victims into a river instead of cremating them, allegedly to save money.

A few weeks ago, television channels showed another suspected thief from Bihar state being beaten by a crowd and then chained to a police motorcycle and dragged around, leaving him seriously injured.—AFP