According to highway police sources, around 200 policemen were put on a shift-wise duty as ‘spotters and catchers’ to monitor traffic violations along the stretch round-the-clock a few months ago
While analysing the call data records of suspects is a routine practice for policemen, the call records of at least 20 policemen who are meant to monitor traffic violations on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway are now under scrutiny by the Maharashtra Highway Traffic Police for dereliction of duty. While these officers were posted as spotters on the highway to monitor violations, it is suspected that they were not present at the spots assigned to them. According to highway police sources, around 200 policemen were put on a shift-wise duty as ‘spotters and catchers’ to monitor traffic violations along the stretch round-the-clock a few months ago. Explaining the role of spotters and catchers, an officer said, “Spotters are uniformed policemen and have been entrusted with monitoring violations”.
Apart from moving in police vehicles, they take lifts in private vehicles plying on the Expressway and monitor movements of the vehicles. If they notice a violation, these spotters pass on the information, including vehicle number, type of violation and location via message, to policemen near the toll naka.”
The officer added,“The policemen stationed at the toll naka serve as catchers. Based on the information provided by the spotters, they penalise violators”.
Last week, RK Padmanabhan, Additional Director General of Police (Highway Traffic) paid a surprise visit to the Expressway and found that some of the spotters were not stationed at the spot allotted to them.The spotters, however, claimed otherwise. Suspecting that the policemen were shirking responsibility, the department called for the CDRs of at least 20 policemen suspected of dereliction of duty.
“If the spotter says he had been carrying out his duties, we already have messages he sent to the catcher pertaining to violations. Based on this, their tower location details will be checked through the CDRs. So, if the tower location changes, that means the policemen are also moving. If it remains static for a prolonged period, it would be established that they were lying,” said the officer.
“We will be conducting surprise visits on the Expressway to ensure policemen carry out their duties efficiently,” Padmanabhan said.
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