Delhi Police plans special vigilance squads during CWG

Thu, Jul 22 10 03:57 PM

New Delhi, Jul 22 (PTI) To thwart possible corruption by its personnel during the upcoming Commonwealth Games, Delhi Police is planning to have special vigilance teams which will keep a hawk''s eye on its men during the sporting event. Official sources said Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal has issued directions in this regard to senior officers heading the three policing ranges -- New Delhi, Northern and Southern -- covering the national capital and other officials concerned. They said senior police officers will keep a tab on their subordinates to check abuse of official positions. Sources said the Delhi Police chief fears corruption related to grant of licences for commercial activities and checking unauthorised construction among others. The special teams, comprising an Assistant Commissioner of Police or above rank officer, will visit different police stations and areas under their jurisdiction randomly to check its staff, sources said. Delhi Police has a strength of about 77,000 personnel. The national capital has 11 policing districts -- New Delhi, Central, East, North East, North west, North, West, South, South East, South West and Outer -- for the purpose of maintaining law and order. "There will be special drives to check corruption during Commonwealth Games," Joint Commissioner of Police (Vigilance) N Dilip Kumar told PTI. The mega sporting extravaganza is scheduled between October 3-14 here. A recent RTI application has revealed that Delhi Police is the most corrupt department as per the number of corruption cases filed by Delhi''s Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) in the last three years. Delhi Police has topped the list of government departments against whom the ACB has filed corruption cases, followed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). According to the ACB, 51 cases were registered against 80 employees in 2007, 45 each in 2008 and 2009 against 122 and 64 officers respectively. Out of the 22 cases registered till May this year, 10 were against Delhi Police officers, three against MCD employees and six against employees of other departments of the Delhi Government, the ACB said in reply to the RTI application. The force is already using sting operation -- a method used by investigative journalists to expose irregularities -- to check corruption. Delhi Police''s Vigilance Branch claims to have ''snooped around'' and exposed four major corruption cases involving several policemen by using various equipment to capture evidence so far this year.

Source: Published>