Criticism from all quarters — social and political — could not deter the Delhi Police. Under immense pressure for failing law and order situation in Delhi, the city police achieved one feat after another by cracking a series of high profile cases in recent times. The sensational expose of the IPl spot fixing has come as a big image makeover for the Delhi Police which suffered a major dent after the December 16 gang rape case followed by the rape of five-year-old girl in East Delhi.
The nation was outraged when a 23-year-old paramedical student was brutally raped in a moving bus by six men on December 16, 2012. The Delhi Police was shamed and cornered by the Government as well as the citizens. So much were the tensions that CM Sheila Dikshit had demanded the immediate resignation of the Delhi Police Commissioner. However, it managed to save its repute by identifying four out of the six accused within the next day. Police silenced all allegations of it being sleeping over the matter by arresting a total of four accused within the next 48 hours including the bus driver and main accused Ram Singh. Further, the police showed its promptness by filing then chargesheet in less than a month.
Similarly, police proved its competence in cracking the rape case of the five-year old girl in East Delhi. While the Capital was boiling over the incident and politicians laid seize at the police headquarters demanding Police Commissioner’s resignation, police arrested both accused in the case from Bihar within two days of the incident.
Even the rich and resourceful were not spared by the Delhi Police when it came to apprehending the accused. The Delhi Police successfully cracked the murder case of billionaire businessman and BSP leader, Deepak Bhardwaj in April this year. The police arrested his younger son Nitesh and his close aide Baljeet Sherawat within no time. It had arrested the duo only after collecting incriminating evidence against the two in the high-profile murder case. The investigation of the police in this case too was commendable as it had zeroed in at the family members right from the beginning of the probe.
The recent case of the arrest of the real estate scamster and CMD of JVG group Vijay Kumar Sharma has also helped in buying more credibility to the Delhi Police. Sharma was wanted in 10 cases of cheating, had floated 17 companies and was evading the dragnet for the past three years. The arrest of this fraud came as a respite to many who had fallen prey to his trap.
The Delhi Police’s master stroke in its attempt to give it back to all the accusations has been the arrest of the cricketers involved in spot fixing. The special cell of the Delhi Police which received information that some members of the Mumbai underworld are involved in match fixing in the ongoing IPl matches with the active participation of some unidentified conduits, bookies and players. The arrest of S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan belonging to Rajasthan Royals has certainly overturned the image of the Delhi Police.
‘Will you not ask me to resignIJ’
“Will you not ask me to resign todayIJ” This was Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar’s sarcasm-laced question lobbed at TV reporters on Thursday, after giving details of the spot-fixing scandal at a Press conference. leadership qualities of 59-year-old Kumar had become a subject of debate in the media over growing number of rapes in the Capital amid calls during TV panel discussions that he should quit. Visibly happy after cracking the spot-fixing case, it was the turn of the Delhi top cop to raise the issue of any resignation. After concluding the Press conference, Kumar walked up to some TV reporters. “Won’t you ask me to resign todayIJ” the police chief asked with a wry smile on his face.