There was a time when Parvinder Singh Pasricha used to hit the headlines because of his proven expertise in traffic control. The management of traffic in Mumbai City was much better when he was the traffic chief. Now Pasricha has made the front page of all local dailies for the wrong reasons. He is said to be dabbling in the purchase and sale of real estate.

The citizens of the city will form the impression that the state’s police chief has indulged in large-scale corruption. Even if that is not so, public opinion is against him. Nothing can be proved from the facts disclosed in the ‘sting’ operation, except that Pasricha has spent considerable time on buying and selling real estate and has probably missed his real vocation in life. As for corruption, it can only be presumed if the prices he has paid were much below the market rates prevailing at those times.

The community to which Pasricha belongs is adept in business and trade and makes a good living out of this traditional occupation. The problem lies in the fact that the common man does not expect police leaders to be anything other than good policemen. By buying and selling flats, Pasricha has let them down and in the process brought the police service into further disrepute.

I used the adjective ‘further’ because a disproportionately large number of senior officers have contributed of late to the poor reputation which the Indian Police Service has recently acquired. A police commissioner was arrested on the day after he retired from service. A joint commissioner of police, trained at an IIT and IIM, was arrested for corruption. An additional commissioner of police was suspended and charged for trying to extract money from his own subordinate and also for possessing property disproportionate to his known source of income. An Addl DGP in line for the top job was trapped by the Anti-Corruption Bureau where he himself had served.

... contd.