‘Cases are pending, not on backburner’

Even as Panchkula police have failed to solve some of the most sensational crime cases, the city has witnessed a spurt in crime, especially snatchings. Arvind Bishnoi grills, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Manbir Singh on the city becoming a paradise for criminals and the steps his force is contemplating to curtail the crime rate. Excerpts:

It seems when it comes to solving high profile cases, Panchkula police have been found wanting. The list includes the lawyer’s wife murder case, Saketri temple theft, Reena Pun murder case, mysterious death of Tanishq, rape of a 21-year old in a moving car and others. What is your take?

Yes, I agree that some of the cases are pending with us, but it would be wrong to say we have kept them on the backburner. We are working on them. We are planning to rope in more young officers in the CIA team of Panchkula police to crack the unsolved cases. We are still prob- ing the lawyer’s wife murder case.


But you have failed to trace the body of the lawyer’s wife Rajni Bala, even after over 45 days of her murder. If you don’t have the body, you don’t have a case...

No. The case is still on. We have got the court’s permission for the brain mapping and polygraph tests of the accused. We are working on some leads which I can’t disclose now. So far as the Saketri temple theft case is concerned, investigation is under progress. We are trying our best to solve all the cases.

Snatchers are having a free run in Panchkula. Some of them even dare to enter houses and commit crime. Many believe that there is no fear of law left in criminal’s minds. What do you have to say?

Incidents of snatching have taken place in Panchkula, but that doesn’t mean that criminals don’t fear the law now. The cases in which snatchers entered houses in Panchkula are very few. Teams of CIA and local cops are on alert and the accused involved in the snatching cases would be nabbed very soon. We have got leads in some of the cases and they would be solved soon.

The road that connects Chandigarh with Panchkula and crosses through Saketri has helped criminals flee. This is rampant even even after a special police post was set up in Saketri village after two heinous murder cases were registered at the MDC police station. A special check post was also installed near the village towards the Sukhna Lake road. How do you react to this?

Well, I do admit there is a problem. No doubt many criminals have used this road to flee, but now we are going to increase patrolling on this road. We are also installing 19 fresh high-end CCTV cameras at all entry/exit points of the city. After the installation of CCTV cameras, it will be easy for us to catch the accused.

For long, Panchkula police officers have complained about shortage of staff in the force. How big is the shortage problem and what is being done about it?

We have appropriate number of officers as well as constables in our police force. The problem is related to the shortage of investigation officers (IOs) including assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs) and sub-inspectors (SIs). The government is filling the vacant posts throughout Haryana soon and the problem will be sorted out soon.

People tend to break traffic rules soon after entering Panchkula from Chandigarh. One can easily find people flouting rules, including riding without helmets, driving without seat belts, triple riding, red light jumping, high speed, among other traffic violations. Any plans to combat these?

In 2017, we issued over 1 lakh traffic challans to offenders. Various awareness campaigns and competitions were also organised by the traffic wing to ensure people don’t break traffic rules. It’s an ongoing process and traffic wing is working on it on a regular basis. Challan through CCTV cameras was also introduced last year.