Northeast people look similar, how do we trace criminals, asks IPS officer

A talk on ‘Cyber Crime’ by an IPS officer here on Friday took a bizarre turn when the speaker claimed that people from the Northeast “so closely resemble each other” that it becomes “extremely difficult” for police to investigate crimes.

Speaking at a programme on ‘Information Security Awareness’ organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), Roopa D, Superintendent of Police, CID (Cyber Crime), complained that banks do not properly verify the address and antecedents of a person before allowing him/her to open an account. It made difficult for police to trace such persons in case they were involved in crimes, she said.

“Sometimes such (bank) accounts are traced to the Northeast and our inspectors, with great difficulty, go to the Northeast… Manipur and Nagaland. First of all, it’s so difficult to go there, and there everybody looks alike (sic). You can’t make out who is who. Even if you have the suspect’s photo, you won’t be able to relate to him/her.

They don’t really co-operate with police,” said Roopa.  The senior police officer did not stop at that. She also categorised Nigerians as “look-alikes” who buy these fake accounts. “These people won’t have any money in their accounts but they will sell their bank accounts with their
ATM cards to some Nigerian or some other person,” she said.

Even if such Nigerian nationals who operate the “fake” accounts were traced, Roopa claimed, police would not be able to take any action.

“There is a Nigerian Colony in Delhi and one in Haryana. In Bangalore, there is one in Kammanahalli. There everybody looks alike (sic)… in Delhi even if our inspectors go, they don’t get much cooperation and it is very unfortunate. But you know they are ‘hatta katta’ (burly). Inspectors are no much. It is a sad state of affairs but it is a reality,” Roopa added.