Disappointing year for Delhi Police despite CWG success

The Jama Masjid incident in which two Taiwanese media persons were injured came a fortnight ahead of the Games and made headlines but police managed to pull off the Games without any glitches with Interpol commending the security arrangements for the event.

Investigators initially tried to play down the incident as the handiwork of local criminals but later admitted that it could be a terrorist act aimed at creating scare ahead of the sporting extravaganza.

Nobody,however,has been arrested for the act,responsibility for which was claimed by the Indian Mujahideen.

The abduction and rape of a 30-year-old BPO employee in south Delhi’s Dhaula Kuan in the dead of the night triggered questions about the safety of women. Three weeks later,an 18-year-old girl was abducted and raped allegedly by four youths in outer Delhi after she protested against lewd remarks being passed at her.

Police responded by reviving ‘Operation Black Rose’,a standard exercise to check the preparedness of the force in tackling such crimes,and making it mandatory for BPOs,corporates and media houses to ensure that women working in late hours are dropped safely at home,defiance of which would attract penal action.

In all the cases,police managed to arrest culprits but it did not help in changing the perception of the capital as an unsafe city where criminals’ writ run large.

Incidents of rape,murder,robberies,burglaries,snatching and vehicle thefts only increased.

Though certain quarters,including Home Minister P Chidambaram,cited migrant influx to the city for the rise in crime,statistics suggested that 80 per cent of those involved in such activities belonged to the capital only.

Investigators also noted that majority of the crimes were committed by novices.

Delhi Police got a new commissioner as Tihar Jail chief B K Gupta took over the reins from Y S Dadwal,who was credited for the “flawless” security arrangements for the Games,and moved to Sasashtra Seema Bal as its Director General.

2010 began on a disappointing note for Delhi Police as on New Year day three terrorists,who were to be deported to Pakistan,escaped from their custody and are yet to be located.

However,police made an important arrest in November — that of self-styled Hizbul Mujahideen divisional commander Abdullah Inquilabi hailing from Pakistan.

Delhi Police also arrested two IFS and IPS officers.

Madhuri Gupta,an IFS-B officer,who was working in the press wing of the Indian High Commission,was arrested in April on spying charges while senior IAS officer Ravi Inder Singh,who was working as the director in the internal security division of the Home Ministry,was nabbed in November for allegedly passing on sensitive information to private players.

On the Naxal front,city police arrested the Delhi chief of the CPI-Maoist Gopal Mishra in April along with his wife Anjali. Mishra was acting as a trade union leader and operating from Okhla.

Later in December,Nepali Maoist Loknath Panth was arrested in central Delhi allegedly with around 500 non- electric detonators and fake Nepalese currency.

Police also filed a chargesheet against Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy,who was arrested last year,in which it named three civil rights activists for allegedly helping the ultra-left in the city. People’s Union of Democratic Rights (PUDR),People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) and Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) were also mentioned in the chargesheet.

Another important arrest was that of a peon with Military Intelligence for murdering an octogenarian man and injuring an elderly woman during robbery in their houses. His arrest led to a wider investigation whether he misused his position and leaked information but no such link was found.

In May,a 24-year-old mechanic with navy was arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan with police claiming that they have recovered “secret and sensitive” documents like photograph of Hindon Air Base and map of Meerut Cantonment.

Chandra Kumar Prasad,posted in the navy’s Aircraft Maintenance Unit in Mumbai,was allegedly passing on classified information to a Pakistan High Commission official through another person.

Delhi Police also cracked another spy ring with the arrest of Pakistani national Sajjad Haider (43) from Samalkha village here in September. He was staying in the capital in the assumed identity of Mohd Pervez for more than an year.

Police also unearthed several human trafficking networks,the major one being the arrest of 27 people headed to Dubai at the IGI airport.

Delhi Police also received praise from the atomic energy department for its investigations into the source of radiation in Mayapuri market in April.

Investigators traced the origin of Cobalt-60 which were found to a Gamma irradiator auctioned by Delhi University’s chemistry department.

The city police also arrested a youth for forging documents in the name of a city gym trainer to procure a SIM card from which “malicious” and “threatening” messages were sent to former Union minister Shashi Tharoor and CPI-M leader Brinda Karat.

The year also saw Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s residence receiving a series of hoax calls threatening to kill her. Two persons were arrested in separate cases.

And the new year approaches,Delhi Police will have a tough task trying to check the crime rate in the city.

Statistically speaking,incidents of rape in 2010 saw an increase from last year’s 452 to 475,molestation cases rose to 597 from 532.

The city witnessed 554 murders this year till December 15 as against 523 last year. Out of the 554 murders,94 were passion related and most of the victims were women.

Only incidents of kidnapping showed a dip from 26 to 19. There were 514 robberies this year till mid-December as against last year’s 508 while burglaries were 1,834 as against 1,634.

Motorcycle-borne criminals were involved in a number of snatching incidents,which rose to 1,412 from last year’s 1,293 prompting new Commissioner Gupta to increase checking of motorcycles. Vehicle thefts also increased to 14,510 this year as against 11,892 last year.