The recent arrests of alleged serial killers might have put the Bangalore police on a pedestal. But the list of unsolved murders in Bangalore has gone up from 43 in 2005, to 66 last year. Police still depend on the age-old system of Modus Operandi Bureau (MOB) records to go about crime cases, especially ‘murder’.
The men in khaki have often taken the wrong lead, ending up in messy situations. A classic instance of this “wild goose chase” was the IISc terrorist attack case. Years have passed by and dozens are in jail, yet the real intent and people behind the attack still remains a mystery. Officials who were in charge of that high-profile case continue to enjoy the best from the department.
One look at the 2007 statistics with 66 unsolved murder cases, and you know why questions are asked about the lack of investigation skills and professionalism.
The constabulary, which actually crack a majority of murder cases, are not encouraged. Neither are they brought to the limelight. Recently, in the Bangalore City West division, a sensational murder case was cracked by a constable (sentry).
Here’s how the constable’s sense helped in cracking the case, as narrated by a jurisdictional officer: On a busy day, the inspector ordered the constable to fetch a man from a given address. The constable landed at the designated house. While he was asked to wait, he looked around and saw a notebook lying on the table. Flipping through the pages, he noticed some rough sketches of the deceased scribbled on the last page. This was evidence enough for him to end the speculation and zero in on the real culprits.
The case was solved but till date, the constable’s name or photograph has not figured anywhere. Apparently, he is just one among many individuals within the constabulary cadre blessed with in-born talent and investigation skills - but suppressed, and kept out of reach of the limelight.
A senior Karnataka police officer had made a critical analysis of how the police department functioned. At an Administrative Reforms Committee conference in Hyderabad, he presented a paper that drew attention to a “Varna” system that existed in the department - majority of IPS officers were brahmins, KPS officers fell in the bracket of Kshatriyas, Sub-Inspectors among Vysyas and the Constabulary, the Shudras.
The officer then made the point that mattered the most: Eighty-three percent of policemen had no power in the department and were put on menial jobs. The department, he said, was decaying and it was time to give it a new shape.
It appears that the wisest thing to do would be to hand over murder and murder-for-gain cases to the Central Crime Branch’s Homicide wing.
Of course, this too wouldn’t work much, unless the department gets more ‘professional’ in terms of investigation, and updates technologically.
