Case properties worth Rs 600 crore rotting around city
Case properties are integral part of criminal jurisprudence and it is the job of the police force to ensure the upkeep of case properties. A reality check on ‘maal-khanas’ (which house case properties ranging from a spoon to a high-end cars such as Mercedes Benz, Audi and BMW) of all 181 police stations in the Capital indicates a shocking state of affairs.
The Delhi Police is faced with immense problem as apart from two rooms at each police station designated as maal-khana, the entire open space inside and outside police stations turned a dump yard for seized vehicles. According to a rough estimate, case properties worth Rs 600-700 crore are rotting in the police stations of the city and consume enormous space worth around Rs 2,500-3,000 crore inside as well as outside the police stations.
Since the police are duty bound to keep such items under safe custody till the court disposed of the case, most of the case properties rot in the police station premises due to long-drawn litigation processes.
According to police data, 30,444 vehicles worth around Rs 600-700 crore are in their custody, dumped across the city. Between January 1, 2009 and June 30, 2014, the Delhi Police had seized 7,67,448 vehicles and managed to dispose of 7,37,004. Due to these case properties, 30-40 per cent of space inside 181 police stations and outside is clogged as centralised maal-khana at Wazirabad was overloaded. As per data, total 29,652 case properties other than the vehicles are lying in East district; 27,185 case properties in North East district; 15,680 in South district; 26,745 in South-East district; 21,691 in South-West district; 37,211 in West district; 24,129 in Central district; 23,207 in North district; 25,482 in North West district; 31,748 in Outer district; 9,121 in New Delhi district; 1,158 Crime; 5,958 in Railways and Metro; 1,123 in IGIA and 1,723 in Special Cell.
According to police officials, the most of recovered stolen vehicles rot in the open as neither the owners nor the insurance companies are interested in claiming them, said a police officials.
“Police stations in the national Capital are gradually becoming junkyards and warehouses as a large number of case properties, including huge rusted vehicles, are eating into their prime and precious space. Problem is that the police cannot auction this junk that has enveloped a large area across the city police stations,” said police officials.
Interestingly, 21,901 viscera samples sealed in small packets are also lying across the police stations despite the forensic reports submitted in the court. The Delhi Police just cannot afford to do away with these samples as court may ask for second opinion at any point of the trial.
There are standing orders issued by the police headquarters (PHQ) about the upkeep of the case properties. Few years back gold was pilfered from the maal khana of Karol Bagh police station and many police personnel were dismissed. This resulted in the PHQ issuing a terse order and putting case properties under CCTV surveillance. It also the job of senior police officers to maintain register of the Maal Khana to ensure that nothing is amiss, said a senior police official.