Burking of cases is not unheard of in policing. But its practice in Balanagar police station has taken a curious twist raising quite a few eyebrows in the Cyberabad Commissionerate.
Balanagar Inspector P. Srinivas Reddy apparently was not in favour of registering cases of vehicles being stolen. Instead of registering the FIRs, he would maintain a register which would contain all the details of the vehicles stolen.
The reluctance to register a case is because if cases are registered, the property lost tally would shoot up and his seniors would question him about the detection of crime. However, whenever a stolen vehicle is found or recovered by other stations’ personnel, the Balanagar police would register a case and then show the vehicle as recovered which would increase the crime detection rate.
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This modus operandi came to light when the Amangal police in Mahabubnagar district recovered a motorcycle stolen from Balanagar area this month. On learning about it, the Balanagar police registered a case in December, though the vehicle was reported stolen in January. The vehicle owner produced the vehicle documents and reported the theft, but the FIR was not issued. The senior officers got wind of it and ordered an inquiry by the inspector’s immediate superior, ACP of Balanagar.
Things began to take a curious turn when the ACP found the “private register” containing details of vehicles stolen but cases not registered. He promptly seized it and took it to his office. Alerted by this, the Inspector allegedly barged into the ACP office, grabbed it and hurried out even as the ACP office staff chased him. Mr. Reddy allegedly tore the register into pieces and burnt the pieces by the time the ACP and other policemen reached the station. Sources said the inquiry officer stumbled upon evidence suggesting that Balanagar police didn’t register over 20 cases of vehicle thefts this year. “Many people are going through the same experience of not getting a FIR issued even after lodging a complaint,” says a contractor, Shekhar of Alwal. Refusal by police to register cases is forcing the complainants to approach brokers and politicians, giving scope for corrupt practices, he feels.
Sources say the higher-ups are contemplating disciplinary action against the Inspector and other staff members of Balanagar station .
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