The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : A spurt in white-collar crimes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 07, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

A spurt in white-collar crimes

With specialised units taking up the investigation, victims have a better chance of getting back their lost property, says P. Oppili

White-collar crimes including job rackets and forging of credit cards are keeping the Greater Chennai police busy these days.

If crimes need general investigation skills, white-collar offences call for special talent among crime busters. With the spurt in white collar crimes, be it job rackets, falsification of documents or just `Adhikesavan-type' con jobs, investigators and top police administrators have now started gearing up the police machinery to face the challenge.

Earlier, an Assistant Commissioner-rank officer was entrusted with the investigation of offences randomly; the city police have now reorganised the Central Crime Branch set-up by allocating specific subjects to each of the four Assistant Commissioners.

Special teams

Each Assistant Commissioner has teams headed by Inspectors of Police, whereas the Assistant Commissioner (Administration) has the maximum number of five teams reporting to him. They deal with cases relating to cheating, special operations and narcotic offences. Of the five, three teams are dedicated to handling cheating-related offences.

The Assistant Commissioner (Operations-I) has been entrusted with investigating cases related to forgery, counterfeit and video piracy, while his other counterpart deals with cases relating to usury and credit card-related offences.

Apart from these three, an Assistant Commissioner has been posted to head a `Cyber Cell.' He attends to cyber crimes, complaints relating to banking and job racket.

Are the specialised units sufficiently equipped to investigate the cases and help gullible members of public?

Yes, says Greater Chennai Police Commissioner, R.Nataraj. Unlike the law and order or crime cases, investigation of certain offences is not to be rushed through.

Training

A four-module training -- investigation of specialised offences, bodily offences, white-collar offences, crimes relating to Information Technology Act and Immoral Trafficking Act -- is provided to the personnel at the police training college before they join the special units, he adds.

Mr Nataraj says that in a metropolitan set up, police investigation has to be thorough and it has to function in a systematic manner and present a case properly in a court of law to render justice to the victims.

With the specialised units taking up the investigation of certain cases, victims have a better chance of getting back their lost property.

A good example was the recent recovery of Rs. 2 crores from a private manpower agency, which promised overseas jobs to people. When the case was referred to the Central Crime Branch, the team arrested the `kingpin' behind the operations and recovered hard cash paid by job seekers. The entire money was then returned to the victims, says a senior officer.

Property recovered

In another case, on the promise of being offered a sand quarrying contract, a businessman of Namakkal paid Rs 60 lakhs to two persons -- one from Chennai and another from Kancheepuram district. After the interrogation was entrusted with the special unit, it tracked and recovered the property from the offenders and restored it to the owners.

As for civil disputes, the officer said the units submit final reports in courts after a thorough investigation.

Last year the Central Crime Branch police arrested a `godman', who illegally acquired both cash and landed property from his devotees, and they seized a large quantity of jewellery and the vehicles used by him and his bank account was frozen.

While special units and media publicity on such crimes increased, people continue to fall victim to white-collar offenders, a few officers lament.

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A spurt in white-collar crimes