Police informers turn goons

Not only infamous for burking cases, the Nalasopara police are now also supporting police informers who have turned into violators of law. The police refused to take action against them when they broke into a Kalyan couple's residence and decamped with electronic goods and cash worth more than Rs2 lakh.

Following police inaction, the couple managed to track down the miscreants themselves only to face further shock. When they asked the cops to take action against the alleged thieves, they were not only humiliated but were also told to keep mum over the incident.

Anita Singh, 30, resident of Dayanand Welfare Society in Nalasopara (E) was informed about the theft on 25 October by her neighbours. When they approached the Nalasopara police for complaint, after much dillydallying, a case was registered. Meanwhile, the couple found a passport size photo left behind by the miscreants and managed to track down the person in the photo, in the very next lane.

The involved accused were alleged police informers Vijay alias DJ, Rajan alias Ramiya and Advani.

"When we showed the picture to the police they asked us to track him down by ourselves and to inform them if we come across the valuables and the person. When we inquired about the man in the locality we were informed that the person was the area goon and often indulged in stealing and harassing the locals under police protection them as they were their informers," said Anita Singh.

"When we traced the accused, we found our electronic goods at his residence and asked the police to come along and recover the valuables. They found two fridges and DVD players from their possession which belonged to us but denied taking action against them. They also asked us to keep quiet about the incident," said Singh.

"We have registered a case of theft and action would be taken against the accused. We are trying to trace them and they will be arrested soon," said Bajirao Kalantre, police inspector (crime).