Lax police officers in for trouble

PATNA: All the 11 Range DIGs and four Zonal IGs of Patna, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur and Darbhanga police zones have been, in a directive given by the DGP Neelmani on Saturday, asked to send lists of police officers found wanting in crime control efforts to the police HQs, so that they can be given non-field postings.
The police officers coming under this purview are station house officers (SHOs) of police stations, inspectors, circle inspectors (CIs) and even deputy superintendents of police (DSPs).
Asked whether this was being done in a bid to spruce up police activities in the state, Neelmani told TOI on Saturday that although crime rate in the state has already gone down, this action has been taken to further streamline it. "Range DIGs and Zonal IGs have been asked to send such lists so that lax police officers can be pulled out of field postings and transferred to the CID or special branch. Proceedings can be done in cases of police officers found wanting in duty, including promotion blockage and suspension," said the DGP.
As crime control in the state involves stemming Maoist activities, police headquarters has stepped up surveillance in this regard. "Fifty area, sub-zonal and zonal commanders of CPI(Maoist) have been arrested in the current year," Neelmani added. The NDA-II government, a day after swearing in, reviewed law and order and crime control and asked the police to remain vigilant.
Continuing, the DGP claimed even cases of kidnapping for ransom have consistently gone down in the state. In 2004, 411 such cases were registered, in 2005, the number went down drastically to 251, in 2006, it was 194, in 2007 it decelerated to 89, in 2008, it was 66, in 2009, it went up slightly to 80, and in 2010, till November, it was 52. "As crime escalates during any election, in December 2010, the number of kidnapping for ransom cases was nine," Neelmani said, adding only two cases of abduction and subsequent killing occurred in 2010.
All such cases have been solved and chargesheet had been filed. "All kidnapped persons have been recovered barring two recent cases in Muzaffarpur where two businessmen have been abducted recently. We are hopeful of making a breakthrough in both the cases," he added.