'Police informers can't be trusted blindly'

Bunty ,alias Omprakash, who now heads the Delhi Police's most-wanted list as thealleged kingpin of the 'killer biker' gang, used to be a police informer till afew years ago. Then one day, he turned against the men he worked for. It waslike some police officer's worst nightmare coming true. While apolice informer - popularly known as a khabri - is like the eyes and ears of anylaw-enforcing agency, there's always a possibility that this trusted aide mayturn into a law-breaker and manipulate the system he knows so well. Bunty, whowas behind bars from 2002 to 2005, helped the police arrest several dreadedcriminals after coming out of jail. Now, his gang is suspected to be behind aspate of shootings and robberies in Delhi. But despite the risksinvolved, cops can't do without informers either. As Delhi Police commissioner YS Dadwal points out, for any '' criminal intelligence system to be efficient, itis necessary to keep a track of criminals and use them to extract informationabout other criminals'' . While announcing his '' eyes and ears' ' schemeearlier this year, Dadwal had said he wanted all his beat constables andcitizens to collaborate on information about criminals. Six months on, the DelhiPolice says the scheme has achieved a lot of success and they know more aboutgangs, history sheeters, petty criminals and juvenile offenders. With inputsfrom security guards, vendors, chowkidaars, drivers and barbers, severalrobberies have been averted . A number of cases has also been solved, includingsensational murders, and crimes like rapes, robberies, thefts and snatchings.The south district police recently arrested a Bangladeshi national, BadalFiroji, for the murder of a 71-year-old at Amar Colony in south Delhi. He wastraced with the help of another Bangladeshi national - a blind junk dealer fromsouth Delhi who doubles as a police informer. This junk dealer has been in Indiafor a decade and has helped the police arrest a number of Bangladeshi nationalsinvolved in crime in the capital. '' He is an important contact for Bangladeshiscoming to Delhi in search of jobs. And as he's a junk dealer , many criminalscome to him to sell their stolen goods. He has tipped off the police in manyoccasions and has even received threats from criminals. We have to use himtactfully,'' said a senior police officer. For the protection of informers, saycops, it's very important to keep their identities a secret. '' The only way toprotect informers is to keep them away from media glare,'' says an officer. Manysenior officers would admit that their success rate depends on good informersand it's their job to protect their source. Says a former ACP, involved inseveral anti-terror operations, '' The informer risks his life. In the past,when there was not much technical surveillance , we had to place our informeramong terrorist groups to extract vital information.'' But blind faith ininformers has its flipside . '' At times, a greedy informer is lured by moneyand he invites trouble by providing the same information to two officers. Anofficer may land in a spot, if he trusts his informer blindly, especially whenthe information is of a sensitive nature,'' says a crime branch official . Acase in point is the CP shootout of 1997, in which two businessmen got killedowing to a wrong tip-off . '' The informer tipped off former ACP S S Rathi andhis team about a gangster , Yaseen, and the cops ended up shooting two innocentbusinessmen. The team was later convicted by a Delhi court. Had Rathi notblindly relied on the information, they would have been saved,'' said a seniorcop. A wrong tip-off proved fatal for a 45-yearold Delhi policesub-inspector , Satish Kumar Dalal, and his informer in 2004. During a raid atMangolpuri, Dalal and his informer were burnt alive and their heads were choppedoff. Dalal was posted with the anti-homicide squad, while the informer, Vijay,was an MTNL employee. In December 2004, another S-I of special cell, MehtabSingh, was killed in an encounter with the Krishan Pehalwan gang. He had alsoacted on a wrong tip-off . And police later started tracking Pehalwan. ACPRajbir Singh, who was murdered in March this year, had even started making useof Pehalwan , which led to the arrest of several notorious criminals like VijayBodha and Mahavir Don. '' It is very important for policemen to keep a tab onrival gangs. A gang war is often a boon for us. Taking advantage of the volatilesituation, we can keep a check on the crime rate,'' explains a former encounterspecialist. But, according to police sources, there have also beeninstances of cops turning into extortionists by misusing the information thatcomes to them. '' Cops need to be sensitised from time to time about the use ofcriminal intelligence system,'' says the cop. And then, there arecases in which the informer is past his use and it's his turn to be on the run.Many a times, the special cell of Delhi Police and Intelligence Bureau have beenaccused of getting their informers - who are no longer of any use to them -arrested or killed in encounters. In February 2006, one Haji Ghulam Dar, whoclaimed to be instrumental in the surrender of more than 300 militants in theValley, was arrested in Delhi on charges of helping terrorists. He later filed apetition in the high court, with a letter signed by the J-K additionaldirector-general of police , which said that he had been working with the statepolice to '' neutralize' ' militants. Similarly, two persons, identified asMohammad Marouf Qamar and Irshad Ali, were arrested as Al Badr terrorists.Later, investigations revealed that they were '' actually informers working forthe police'' . Mumbai Police also has a notorious track record of informersdying in accidents. Take the case of Salim Ahmed Siddhqui who died in a freakaccident soon after he provided information about an actor carrying cocaine in2007. Another police informer had to spend several years in prison once hisidentity was disclosed to the media. Inderjit Gawa, 35, a resident of PaschimPuri, had helped Delhi Police crack several cases involving gangs from Haryanaand UP. He had also got a certificate in 1999 for his '' valuable contributionto public welfare'' . But one day, the men he worked for allegedly joined handswith the men he worked against, after Gawa provided information to I-T officialsabout shady deals of a businessman in his neighbourhood. The local policearrested Gawa in an extortion case in 2000. He was, however, released in 2003after investigations ordered by the Delhi High Court found him innocent. Attimes, say senior officers, the '' informer becomes too big.. And in order tooblige their source, cops go to any extent - even if it means ignoring theirpetty offences'' . A 25-year-old youth, who fired accidentally upon a youth atVasant Kunj in November last year, used to double as a police informer. When thecops finally arrested the accused, Moti, an unlicensed gun was recovered fromhim. rahul.tripathi@timesgroup.com