Police has been most corrupt govt dept for 10 years: ACB

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: Is khaki the colour of corruption in the city? The city police has consistently been the most corrupt government department over the last decade, reveal anti-corruption bureau (ACB) figures. The BMC pipped it only once — in 2008 — and exactly 251 cops have been arrested in corruption cases over the past 10 years.

If we go by ACB records, the maximum number of policemen charged with corruption came in 2003 — a total of 60 cops. “Policemen are more visible and they have more contacts with the public than personnel from other departments. So, there are more complaints against them,’’ an ACB officer said.

A senior Mumbai police officer refused to comment, saying it was “not a positive thing to comment on’’. The city police, he added, had installed banners at almost all police stations explaining that both offering and accepting bribe were offences. “But all this is not yielding any results.’’

The only change came in 2008, when the BMC topped the corruption list with 26 of its personnel being investigated for corruption allegations. The number of policemen suspected to be involved in corruption in 2008 was 19.

And the ACB cases not only relate to those in which cops were trapped while accepting a bribe. There have been numerous cases when policemen have been caught forcing small-time businessmen to cough up money from ATMs. There have also been cases of policemen found to possess assets disproportionate to their official income. Suspended encounter specialist Daya Nayak was arrested in such a case a few years ago. “But it becomes difficult to prove these cases,’’ an officer said.

Former IPS officer-turnedlawyer Y P Singh, who has written a book, Carnage by Angels, focusing on the corruption in the police department, said, “Corruption comes to notice more often in the police force as they take bribes from innocent people who then complain to the ACB. In other cases of corruption, like between a builder and the BMC or between a tax evader and a tax officer, both parties gain and hence no one files a formal complaint. That is the reason why the ACB should pursue more such cases. That only will tackle the problem of collusive corruption being practised by high-level politicians and bureaucrats.’’

The Times of India, January 30, 2010