Complete probe against cops trapped by ACB in 15 days: Rakesh Maria tells staff

Upset over several cases of policemen getting caught taking bribe, Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria has written to the force, stating that the situation is a symbol of weak oversight of senior officers.

Maria has directed senior officers to conduct and complete inquiry within 15 days into the reason leading to the arrest of cops by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), and frame charges against the errant staffers.

According to the letter issued on June 23, in last few days, in the successful traps conducted by the ACB, officers and staff from Mumbai police force were caught red-handed accepting bribe in large numbers and due to this the image of the force is getting tarnished. Recently, two officers were caught by the ACB on the day of important bandobast.

"This only goes to show where the policeman is showing his concentration even on the day of important bandobast. Such questionable and bad behaviour will not be tolerated henceforth," reads the letter.

The letter states that after going through ACB documents, seeking prosecution sanction, it has emerged that some of the reasons for which the policemen accept bribes are not to register a case against accused, not to arrest the accused, going cold on the investigation, not to collect evidence to dilute the case etc.

Maria goes on to say that since the senior officers are not making inquiries of the cases, the subordinates are misusing their position.

"It is directed that from now on, whenever a trap will be laid by the ACB against the policeman concerned and a case is registered at the police station for demanding bribe on the pretexts such as delaying in making arrest of the accused, not to make a case diary, delay in release of the person, doing low quality of investigation, not including name of the person in the case or including name of the person in the case without any reason, a preliminary inquiry should be conducted over this and should be completed within a 15 days on priority basis. After framing the charges, the department inquiry should be initiated within a month against the policeman," the letter states.

"With deep regret it is said that policemen being caught by the ACB for accepting bribe just goes to show that senior officers have no control over their subordinates. No mercy should be shown to those policemen who tarnish the image of the force. All the additional and deputy commissioners should themselves participate to bring improvement within the force," the letter concludes.