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Saturday, Apr 19, 2008
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New Delhi

Criminals invading Delhi

Delhi Police officers feel the lack of coordination with their counterparts from neighbouring States is being exploited by inter-State criminals, says Devesh K. Pandey

The sensational murder of Delhi businessman Arun Gupta carried out allegedly by contract killers from western Uttar Pradesh has brought into focus the issue of crimes committed in the Capital by criminal elements from neighbouring States.

The miscreants from nearby regions have regularly been indulging in crimes in the city ranging from robbery and kidnapping to drug peddling and smuggling of counterfeit currency notes.

Investigations into the Kalkaji businessman’s murder case have revealed that those who had been contracted the job were from Bulandshahr. In a robbery committed the same day at Greater Kailash Part-II in South Delhi, in which criminals ambushed a cash van and made off with Rs.30 lakh, the police suspect that the assailants were from Haryana.

“Recent incidents indicate that there has been an increase in involvement of criminals coming from the adjoining States,” says a Delhi Police officer.

The police have a strong suspicion that many big-time criminals who are behind bars in these States have been operating from inside jails, several of whom even manage to remain in regular touch with their gang members through mobile phones.

Another facet of the crime scenario is that in the recent past several people from western Uttar Pradesh have been found involved in circulation of counterfeit currency notes smuggled in from Pakistan, a fact backed by recent arrests made by the Delhi police and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence. Also, the police here have in the past arrested several persons from Uttar Pradesh on charges of drug peddling, particularly indigenously produced heroin.

An emerging new trend is that those who have graduated to become gangsters have started investing in property business, mostly in the satellite towns of Delhi because of the spiralling property rates in these areas. These criminal elements have been acquiring properties in the name of their contacts, a usual modus operandi employed to evade detection.

There is no denying that there has been a spurt lately in criminal activities across the Capital and concerted efforts need to be made to ensure that the situation does not go out of hand. However, several Delhi Police officers feel that there is a lack of proper coordination among them and their counterparts from the neighbouring States, which is being exploited by inter-State criminals.

Not long ago, police officers from Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh at an inter-State coordination meeting had reached an agreement to ensure seamless policing in the National Capital Region, besides institutionalising the criminal intelligence sharing mechanism. Many police officers feel that the sooner this comes into effect the better it would be in containing crime in the region in a more effective manner.

The new endeavour would undo the procedural shackles that police officers presently find themselves mired in.

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