A year of bouquets and brickbats for B'lore police

It was a year of bouquets and brickbats for the City police. While the police force received appreciation for its deft handling of the exodus of northeasterners, a spate of murders, sometimes, almost every day, put a question mark on policing.

The busting of a terror module, however, was a major accomplishment for the short-staffed City police.

The exodus of northeasterners posed a major challenge for the City police in August 2012. About 30,000 northeasterners went back home in a matter of a week following threats by lumpen elements in the aftermath of Assam violence.

About 20 cases of assault on people from the north-east were registered. Police arrested three men who spread panic through their hate messages.

The Central Crime Branch police busted a terror module in the State by arresting five men from Hubli and eight from Bangalore. Investigations revealed that the module had links with cross-border terrorist outfits. National Investigation Agency took over the investigation from CCB in December.

The City police arrested Mohammed Kafeel Akthar, a close associate of Yaseen Bhatkal in the first week of May for his involvement in the 2010 Chinnaswamy Stadium Blast.

Based on the information given by him, the Indian authorities got Fasih Mohammed, a kingpin of the Indian Mujahiddeen module who was in Saudi Arabia. He was deported to India and arrested by the Delhi Police on 22 October.

A spate of murders rocked the City in August and November this year.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, City Police Commissioner B G Jyothiprakash Mirji termed 2012 as a mixed bag with many challenges, achievements and lessons as well.

He claimed that the crime rate during the year came down significantly. Mirji said he was satisfied with putting brakes on the rowdy activities in the City.

He said intelligence gathering by the police improved a lot and led to prevention of several crimes. He listed the busting of terror module as one of the major achievements by the police.

The cops were at the receiving end of the courts for their handling of crisis situations. The courts were particularly critical of police role during the advocates-media flare up. The year also saw clash between the police and advocates. Mirji termed the turn of events a ‘bad phase’ and the incidents that the advocates, media and police should forget and move forward.

The police were pulled up by the High Court in connection with the investigation into murder of S P Mahantesh, Deputy Director of  Co-operatives Societies’ Audit Department and a whistleblower.

The Court was critical of police for not arresting Gowramma, the corporator, in connection with the murder of Lingaraju, also a whistleblower. The gang-rape of an NLSIU student too drew similar observations.

Faced with the gargantuan task of policing an ever-expanding City, the police took to technology to make the task easier. The City police started a blog and a Facebook page. The State police introduced SMS gateway as part of the Sakaala services.

The Traffic police launched a slew of campaigns, almost one a month to ensure safe roads. “According to the study conducted by the Traffic Training Institute, Bangalore, the City, despite witnessing an addition of 500 vehicles a day, has recorded a 69 per cent decline in the number of accidents since 2007, said M A Saleem, Additional Commissioner, Traffic. He said the accidents have come down from 8,426 in 2007 to 5,369 in 2012 (as on December 25).

The State police force saw three chiefs at the helm during 2012. Shankar Bidari assumed the office in November 2011. However, A R Infant challenged the appointment in Central Administrative Tribunal claiming that his seniority has been ignored.

The CAT allowed his petition, and Bidari went in appeal to the High Court which upheld the CAT order and directed immediate removal of Bidari on March 31. A R Infant took charge as the Director General and Inspector General of Police on April 1 while Bidari took the matter to the Supreme Court.

However, the two officers retired from service on May 31. The mantle shifted to Lalrukhoma Pachau on ad-hoc basis and he was later appointed to the post on November 7.