Lucknow, Sep 23 (IANS): FIRs have been lodged against IPS officers Ajay Pal Sharma and Himanshu Kumar in Meerut for allegedly lobbying for their transfer and posting. They have been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The Uttar Pradesh police haS found evidence against the officers in calls and chats from their cell phones.

The names of journalists Chandan Rai, Swapnil Rai and Atul Shukla, allegedly involved in the case, have also been included in the FIRs. All of them are accused of "inducing a government official for corruption".

Three videos of IPS officer and then Noida Police chief, Vaibhav Krishna, chatting with a girl had gone viral on social media platforms a few months back. The officer had called a press conference to "clarify" that the videos were "deliberately morphed" to tarnish his image.

Krishna had also complained to the Deputy General of Police and Chief Secretary (Home), and claimed that he had busted a gang of five journalists involved in lobbying for posting of the then Noida SSP Ajay Pal Sharma, and other officials Sudhir Singh, Rajiv Narayan Mishra, Ganesh Saha and Himanshu Kumar.

Krishna was suspended earlier this year.