Stolen goods sold: Cops at two stations gyp rightful owners
Finders keepers’ was the adage two police stations in the city swore by. It is probably an open secret, but it has now been established that at least in Koramangala and Madiwala police stations – over the last 10 years – stolen goods that were recovered were siphoned off by the men in khaki and the rightful owners never ever saw their possessions.
The investigating officers believe that this would be the case across all the 105 police stations in the city.
Apreview to the rot: In Madiwala station, among the 1,174 seized items, there are no documents pertaining to 518 items including gold and bikes. In Koramangala station, in the last few years, 356 items like gold jewellery, bikes and electronic items that were seized from the thieves in 92 cases are unaccounted for.
Adetailed report has been submitted to both the top bosses of police – police commissioner M N Reddi and DG&IGP Om Prakash.
The report says at least 10 inspectors and other lowerranked staff are involved in this daylight robbery by men of the force.
The thievery by the police of property of members of the public came to light in December 2014 when the then assistant commissioner of police, Shanta Kumar, was pursuing a burglary case.
He asked his team about the ornaments and a bike that were recovered in the case.
The inspector concerned was fidgety, according to Kumar. On a hunch, Kumar decided to examine cases that involved seizure of stolen goods in the last 20 years within the Koramangala and Madiwala police station limits in southeast Bengaluru. What he came up with going retrospectively just a few years or so was mind-boggling piece of chicanery by his fello men in the force.
‘‘The report has reached the police commissioner. As this (matter) comes under my jurisdiction, I will be looking into this issue. I am about to request the commissioner to direct all police stations to investigate missing items,” P Harishekaran, additional commissioner (east), said.
“(The) documents in the last 10 years show how recovered goods have gone missing. The seized ornaments, bikes and other items of high networth have been identified by the complainants, although these have not been returned to them. Instead, they have gone missing, and for this, the staff working here and the police inspectors are responsible.” He suspected that all these goods have been disposed illegally for money.
“I have submitted the report with all the related documents to the police commissioner, requesting him to take action against all who are involved in this scam,” Kumar said.
The officer went on to recall an instance when a case of theft was registered in 2011 with the Madiwala police. Soon the stolen items were recovered from Kalasipalya during a raid. The complainant identified her gold and silver items. But these were not returned to her and Madiwala police went on to tell her that since the accused was still missing, she couldn’t have them back yet.
Kumar said he noticed a lot of difference between files listing seized items and the list of disposed items, adding weight to his suspicions. Around a kilogram of gold, many silver items, mobile phones, electronic items and more than 200 bikes among many other items, had been illegally disposed without the knowledge of the rightful owners.
ACP Shanta Kumar stated in his report that police inspectors M L Purushottam, M K Ganapathi, Raghavendra, M M Prashant and other staff were responsible for this and he suggested that action be initiated against them. He further ordered the recovery of the missing items or equivalent in monetary terms from them.
He alleged that a similar practice seemed to have been followed at the Koramangala Police Station. Here the inspectors in the line of duty were Shiva Shankar, Mallikarjun, Meer Arif Ali, Purushottham, Wazir Ali Khan and Nagaraju.
The home ministry has ordered detailed investigations and subsequent action against those found guilty.
It takes ‘seconds’ for the men in khaki to make a killing
Story so far
* A detailed report was submitted to police commissioner MN Reddi and DG&IGP Om Prakash * The report says 10 inspectors involved in this daylight robbery by men of the force * Inspectors ML Purushottam, MK Ganapathi, Raghavendra, MM Prashant from Madiwala * Inspectors Shiva Shankar, Mallikarjun, Meer Arif Ali, Purushottham, Wazir Ali Khan, Nagaraju from Koramangala Police Station
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Madiwala station
* Total items seized: 1,174 * No documents pertaining to 518 items including gold, bikes * In one case in 2011, recovered gold and silver items were not returned to the complainant
Koramangala station
* 356 items like gold jewellery, bikes, electronic items seized from thieves in 92 cases are unaccounted for
“I got a smell of something illegal has taken place here in the cases and started looking at the files from last 20 years. As I have seen in the documents in last 10 years lots of things are missing” —Shanta Kumar assistant commissioner of police
1 kg of gold, silver items, mobiles, electronic items, 200 bikes disposed of without owners’ knowledge
