Good show, boys

Good show, boys

Having clinched the series against South Africa, Delhi Police has not just been proved right over the Hansie Cronje imbroglio, it has been vindicated as a professional and committed investigative agency. Soon after the sensational match-fixing revelations were made public on April 7, both India and the Delhi Police were subject of the most gratuitous statements.

In the scales of international opinion, Cronje's initial proclamations of innocence carried far more weight than the taped evidence produced by the Delhi Police's Joint Police Commissioner K.K. Paul last week. Indeed, until the managing director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, Ali Bacher, came on record over Cronje's culpability on Tuesday, the general response was that while the South African captain could not have stooped so low as to accept slush money, the Indian police force may very well have got its facts all mixed up.

The congratulations are, therefore, very much in order. For one, the Delhi Police had to be meticulous about its facts and in establishing the guilt of the persons being tracked down, given the high stakes involved. For another, as Police Commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma himself pointed out on Tuesday, it had to conduct itself with admirable circumspection given the international ramifications of the case and the sensitivities of a friendly country like South Africa.

The investigative acumen, application and dedication of young officers like Inspector Ishwar Singh, to whom goes the credit for acquiring that vital first clue on Cronje and his dealings with a bookie based in London, is especially worthy of comment.

But having duly acknowledged this, it is time to move on. Or rather, it is time to get back to the numerous unsolved cases that continue to stare the Delhi Police in the face and cause popular disquiet in the Capital. The latest data of the National Crime Records Bureau eloquently reiterates the fact that Delhi is the most crime-prone city in the country. How does a metropolis that possesses the largest police force among all the cities in the country, continue to record the highest levels of the crime? This is one of the great unsolved mysteries of Delhi's civic life. Not only do crimes proliferate, a great many of them remain unsolved for years until they are consigned to some dusty file, forgotten by the media and the public alike. The heinous murder of Indian Express staffer Shivani remains unsolved to this day, despite significant clues and many hours of cross-examination.

The same is the case with the Shivani Jajodia murder. Even in instances where significant breakthroughs have been achieved, like those involving Romesh Sharma for example, numerous untied ends persist. Therefore, a moment when the Delhi Police finds itself Hero No 1, should also hopefully be a moment for introspection. After all, this is a force that swears by its slogan, ``With You. For You. Always''. All that can be said is: Good show on the match-fixing case, boys, but how about some sensational catches at home?