To keep crime in check, 106 cops to tail 1,043 identified offenders

Nagpur: In a bid to arrest the spiralling crime rate, the city cops have relaunched the ‘gunegar dattak yojana’ (criminal adoption scheme) in which a cop keeps a close track of criminals who have been identified for their nefarious activities. In the first phase, a 1,043 ‘body’ offenders — those inclined to attack with weapons — have been marked out.
The city has recorded 44 murders till May this year as against 31 in the same period in 2018. Apart from this, there were 26 cases of attempt to murder as against 20 last year.
Around 106 constables have been assigned names and details of the identified offenders for keeping a personal vigil. Many of them have 2-5 cases against them. Each cop will have to tail around 10 assigned criminals and remain updated about their movements, whereabouts and associations.
The decision was taken by the city police crime branch on Wednesday. The police department is not leaving anything to chance especially as the assembly elections are only a couple of months away.
Nilesh Bharne (additional CP, crime) said the ‘dattak yojana’ will run parallel with our “ongoing work of chasing the targets set under ‘Top 10 wanted’ and ‘Top 10 criminals’ on a regular basis”. “The recent arrests of top goons like Naushad Khan (Ippa gang) and Sumeet Chintalwar (Maya gang) are the outcome of these drives,” he said.
Bharne added that the main aim is to ensure that the goons “do no resort to two of the main channels of their income — kidnapping and extortion.”
It’s also reliably learnt that the cops are collecting inputs regarding the political affiliation of the different gangs. Of the three top gangsters in the city, two are out on bail and the third has just stepped out of jail on parole. They have links to different political parties.
On of these three gangsters, who operates from the outskirts, has floated a new socio-political outfit and is likely to support a leading politician who had nearly put him behind bars after getting an old kidnapping and murder case re-opened. This gangster-turned-politician had to call for truce with the politician to ensure the case got stalled.
A case of cheating and an offence under the Arms Act too had got registered against the gangster during the short period when he was at the loggerheads with the politician. In the coming assembly election, the politician’s fate would largely depend on the gangsters’ support as he has made a silent but strong comeback with no police attention on him.
Another gangster from the central part of the city who has political ambitions too can swing the fortune of a sitting MLA if his network does not extend the required support. The gangster is learnt to be in the good books of a senior politician from Vidarbha.
In the present scenario, a leading party has maximum support of the goons while a former ruling outfit has faced several setbacks in the last few months with most of their gangsters being either in jail or kept under a check. A former don, out on parole, is known to be close to a former elected representative but has been rendered toothless due to depleted financial and man power. A former ruling party has recently allotted a senior post to a top goon from Tajbagh as the cops have sent their former henchmen behind bars.
The recent arrest of a social activist from north Nagpur in a firing case also seemed to be fallout of political wrangling as he had switched parties before the election and also appeared in self-sponsored hoarding with a top politician. Feeling jittery with his rise, the politician is learnt to be behind his arrest.