CP, Bharne join forces to check 24,600 anti-socials in Phase Begin Again

Nagpur: Coordinated action from police stations and crime branch, as part of ‘Phase Begin Again’ launched in June first week, has led to checking of more than 24,600 goons so far, of whom 11,800 had prior records of assaults and attacks.
Led by commissioner of police (CP) BK Upadhyay and additional CP Nilesh Bharne, preventive actions were initiated against around 2,600 goons, including 34 cases in which imminent dacoities were prevented. Around 230 cases of Arms Act were also slapped against criminals for possessing various types of weapons, followed by their seizures.
A shocking 17 murders in the first three weeks of June had left city police unsettled, following which Upadhyay had launched two back-to-back special drives — ‘Operation Crackdown Phase-II’ and ‘Operation Hands-off’ — to weed out the goons and seize arms from them.
City police’s woes were aggravated as more than 850 criminals were released from jail due to the pandemic threat. Around 1,030 goons who were either released from Nagpur Central Jail and other prisons, or got bails through the routine process, were checked.
While the duties at Covid isolation wards, quarantine centres and containment zones still got the bulk of their attention, city police top brass did not allow the situation to slip out of hands. With the introduction of special ‘intelligence cell’, cops strategically tackled gang wars by checking 180 criminals who were planning an attack on their rivals, and also took preventive action against 135 of them. Around 215 such criminals engaged in gang rivalries are now under the scanner in the city.
Bharne, now holding the charge of joint CP, said focused and concerted efforts were undertaken at police stations and the crime branch to keep the goons under check. “We had initiated ‘Dattak Yojana’ or ‘adoption scheme’ for personal focus on each criminal by a single personnel. Every officer and constable was allotted a criminal and asked to keep a tab on his or her whereabouts, latest group members, earning, changing equations with others, movements and other aspects which the cops are expected to have on their finger tips,” said Bharne.
He said regular review and monitoring is done at his level, and developments are shared with rest of the top brass.
Bharne also said that the spate of murders after the lockdown had left the cops worried, but they kept the goons under relentless pressure by regularly summoning them, asking them to furnish their details, share information about their present activities and means of income and other details. “Many gangs are now on the run after the police started visiting their residences and dens round-the-clock,” he said.