Shadow Police under cloud, unit disbanded

KOCHI: They were a select group of police personnel code-named ‘Shadow’ police. Since the squad’s inception in 2005, the group had shadowed many persons and claimed to have busted several illegal activities in the city. The Kochi city police have disbanded the unit after its reputation of being a highly functional camouflaged police team, having prying eyes and sharp ears, went for a toss following complaints from several quarters.

According to official sources, the shadow unit was one of the efficient police teams in the city since its launch in 2005 by then city police commissioner P Vijayan. “The team was instrumental in busting many drug rackets in the city. But in the last few years, mainly from 2016, complaints started coming in from the public about alleged harassment by shadow police team members.

There were complaints of shadow police personnel trying to extort money from people after threatening to foist false cases. As the team members were given full freedom in their operations, many gradually went rogue. It’s a fact that they were the eyes and ears of the city special branch. Once complaints started pouring in, their credibility was at stake,” said a senior police officer.

Kochi City Police Commissioner C H Nagaraju said the Shadow team was disbanded long ago based on a direction from the police headquarters. “Now, we form short-term squads to crack specific cases. Orders are issued in writing by the deputy police commissioner or assistant commissioners. After the case is solved, the particular squad is disbanded,” he added.

Following the complaints against shadow police, Kochi city police under then commissioner M P Dinesh in 2016 introduced new identity cards for the 17-member team and insisted that the public should always demand the ID card if any person in civil dress approached them claiming as police. Kochi city police now have a special team called District Anti-Narcotics Special Action Force (DANSAF) specifically to check rising drug peddling in the city.