Bengaluru police commissioner Kamal Pant, in an interview with Arun Dev, denies media reports on rise in gang-related incidents in the city and speaks about the massive transfer process which is underway in the department after allegation of police-criminal nexus. Excerpts:
There are concerns about a rise in gang-related incidents, especially after easing of lockdown.
This allegation is far from reality. The media has been reporting that there were three gang-related murders. The murder of (former corporator Rekha) Kadresh was not the result of any gang rivalry, but a struggle within the family for power. The rowdy, (Kareem Ali) was killed because he was having an affair and not because of his criminal past. It was only in the case of Madan (a financier for a gang in south Bengaluru), that a gang-related murder has taken place. There has been only one gang-related incident, but the media projected as if there were many.
If there was no such problem, Why did the police conduct massive raids across the city against rowdies? Wasn’t that a knee-jerk reaction to the allegations?
The media has only projected the raid that happened recently. But our crackdown has been going on for a while. Our DCPs (Deputy commissioner of police) have used the magisterial powers given to them to send 19 rowdies to judicial custody in the last six months. These arrests are the first instance where DCPs used the magisterial powers given to them three years ago. In the south division, there is a massive crackdown on criminals, but it was not reported in the media. We have also been targeting their support systems such as those providing finance or vehicle support etc.
There are serious concerns about police-criminal nexus since notorious criminals like Silent Sunil were conveniently out of the city when police decided to conduct a raid.
It was only a coincidence that he was not in the city. Yesterday (Tuesday) the CCB (Central Crime Branch) summoned him. They have interrogated him and taken a statement from him as well.
There have been reports about several criminals joining politics.
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What do you have to say about the allegations of corruption within the department, especially policemen staying posted in the same police station for over five years and in some cases aiding criminals.
For the first time, we have ordered a general transfer of all ranks from sub-inspectors and below. You will not find any policemen who has served for five years or more in any police station anymore. A massive exercise is underway with more than 3,000 officers getting transferred.
In the case of policemen having links with criminals, we have given them marching orders. In Vivek Nagar police station we have already removed four police officers following reports of their links with criminals. Similarly, in Cottonpet police station, four have been giving marching orders and five others will be removed during this general transfer.
Talking about the Covid-19 pandemic, did the two lockdowns change the role of the police?
During the initial lockdown, like everyone else, even we didn’t know what to expect. So, we had sent policemen above the age of 50 years and above, on leave. But it was during that time violence in DJ Halli took place and around 20% of our police force, including the reserve police, were sent on leave.
Even though a lockdown was in effect, crime didn’t stop. We had chain snatchings, house thefts and even cases of transportation of banned drugs. So, a decision was taken that core policing can’t be compromised, so we reassembled force and regrouped.
Because there were no major processions and other events that required police protection (during the lockdowns), we were able to focus on core policing duties. It was during the lockdown we had one of the biggest drugs bust (550kg of marijuana). We set our house in order during this time, such as clearing pending cases, disposal of seized vehicles etc.
Has the pandemic and lockdowns changed the traffic on the roads and are we seeing any different traffic patterns compared to earlier years?
Even though there were opinions that there will be a change in the way Bengaluru operates, especially with the work from home culture, what we have seen is that after the lockdown has been lifted, there are more vehicles on the streets.
We see that more people are using private vehicles. Even after public transport has been restarted in full scale, we expect to see more private vehicles on the streets because of the fear of the pandemic.
Besides, all pending development works in the city is causing a problem. Most of the roads have some construction work going on and it is further slowing down the traffic in the city.
Bengaluru is far ahead of every other city in terms of online fraud. Phishing and other online crimes were big issues, especially during the lockdown. What has the Bengaluru police done in this regard?
We have made some important breakthroughs here. We have tied up with RBI (Reserve Bank of India) and all major banks to have a system where we can freeze any transaction involving online fraud. We have simplified this process also. Now, any person who has lost money in some online fraud, like an OTP phishing scam, can call on 112 within two hours and we can freeze that transaction by contacting the bank. We have helped more than 2,500 people in the last six months who have lost their money in online scams.
What about the safe city project, the tender for the project was stalled after allegations of discrepancies.
Safe city project is very important for us. It has two aspects, first since it comes under the Nirbhaya fund, the primary aim of which is to ensure women’s safety. As part of this, we will create 50 safety islands, where a woman can get help with a press of a button, in case they are in distress.
With more than 7,000 cameras that come as part of the project, we will have eyes and ears across the city, which will make sure that we can locate crimes quickly and we are aiming to ensure that a police team responds to the location within 3 minutes.
The second aspect is that these new camera networks provide us with facial recognition technology and registration plate recognition capability and much more, which will be a bonus for the department while conducting an investigation.
(Regarding the allegations) Meetings have been held at different levels from the chief secretary onwards, clarifying all concerns. All queries raised by the companies participating in tenders have been answered as well. The project will be starting soon.
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