Telangana DGP survey exposes 391 corrupt police officers

A survey undertaken by the Director General of Police of Telangana revealed that as many as 391 field level cops were involved in extortion and gross corruption.

These officers were once considered honest and efficient by their superiors. Following the shocking revelations, Telangana DGP M Mahender Reddy has ordered that these officers must be kept out of the loop by attaching them to Armed Reserve Headquarters with immediate effect.

However, the DGP said in his advice to the senior officers of all districts and commissionerates that the list is tentative and not exhaustive.

The survey by the DGP office found that cops were collecting monthly mamools (bribes) from wine shops, unauthorised liquor outlets (Belt shops) and toddy vendors, indulging in civil private settlements, extorting hoteliers, builders, businessmen, illegal sand miners and gambling gangs. Few others were found to be exploiting people involved in cases.

In many cases, field level officers were found collecting bribes on monthly basis to pass on to their superiors. In one specific case, a jeep driver was found to be a benami for a female officer. The survey also ranked corruption district wise. While Suryapet, Karimnagar and Nizamabad topped the list with 40, 35 and 29 men facing allegations respectively, Rachakonda adjoining Hyderabad has 24 such corrupt cops. Rachakonda is preceded by Vikarabad, another suburb of Hyderabad, with 27 corrupt cops.

Immediately after the list was circulated by the DGP among commissionerate and District SP offices, through official mail, Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat made an open appeal to pubs, restaurants and other business establishments against offering mamools to cops. He also distributed a WhatsApp number and an Email ID asking the businessmen to report cases of threats by cops.

Similar appeal was also made by Cyberabad police commissioner V C Sajjanar.

The expose of corrupt police officers coincided with the Chief Minister’s office reportedly asking 39 TRS legislators to mend their ways or be denied a ticket in the 2019 elections. The survey undertaken by the Chief Minister also found that the kin of the legislators were indulging in extortion and the TRS legislators were not spending enough time in their constituencies.