Amid ongoing tussle between the AAP Government and lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung over Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB)’s power and jurisdiction, the Delhi Police’s vigilance department comes up with statistics on Saturday claiming that it has registered corruption cases against its own men.
Delhi Police has dismissed eight of its own personnel and suspended 69 from duty on charges of corruption in the last ten months. The Vigilance Unit has so far registered 36 cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act against 74 police personnel which include two Inspectors, six Sub-Inspectors, six Assistant Sub-Inspectors, 22 Head Constables and 38 Constables, police said.
Besides, 10 POCA cases have also been registered in local police stations in Delhi (in 2014 and up to June 31 this year) against 10 police personnel — five Sub-Inspectors, one Assistant Sub-Inspector, two Head Constables and two Constables.
“Apart from registering POC Act cases and taking up investigation, strict departmental action was taken against the defaulting personnel. In all, 69 officers have been placed under suspension and eight were dismissed on corruption charges. Of these, 39 are from local police, 14 from the Traffic Unit, and 24 from the Police Control Room,” Special Commissioner (Vigilance) Amulya Patnaik said.
“Since its inception last year on August 6, we have received nearly one lakh complaints in various forms on the helpline 9910641064 till June 31 this year. Out of this, there were 85,657 WhatsApp messages, 10,442 calls and 3,590 SMSes,” he added. Also, our helpline numbers 1064 and 1800111064 (landlines) handled 537 calls regarding inaction, corruption and other miscellaneous issues.
Besides complaints pertaining to Delhi Police, about 3,000 calls and messages were received on our helpline pertaining to other departments under the Delhi Government such as MCD, Delhi Jal Board, and Transport etc, he said.
“These complaints have been referred to the Anti-Corruption Branch of the GNCT of Delhi for necessary action,” said Patnaik.
During a review meeting on June 4, the l-G was informed about this special drive against corruption in police over the last one year.
“We informed the l-G that the Anti-Corruption Helplines have become very popular and are being used to report any corrupt demand/misdemeanor by policemen, though a number of calls have not been found actionable after due enquiry,” said Special Commissioner (law and Order) Deepak Mishra.
The l-G lauded the sustained efforts of the Delhi Police on the anti-corruption front. The success of the Anti-Corruption Helplines and the follow-up legal and departmental action was appreciated by him. The Delhi Police will continue its anti-corruption drive, and all districts and units heads have been sensitised in this regard, he added.
In the meantime, contrary to claims made of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that ACB has received more than a lakh of calls of corruption, in reality it had received just 282 calls up to May 13 and registered seven cases based on calls from the helpline, according to an RTI.