How Mumbai CP Sanjay Barve plans to police corrupt cops

Commissioner of Police Sanjay Barve wishes to sensitise junior officers against corruption and be available to pay heed to their problems

Sanjay Barve, who until very recently led the Anti-Corruption Bureau in its charge against corruption in the Mumbai Police, now finds himself on the flipside of things as the city's new police commissioner. Keen to avoid embarrassment for the force under his watch, one of Barve's first moves was to ask his joint commissioners to visit one police station every day to keep a closer watch on junior officers.

When Sanjay Barve was Director General of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the corruption watchdog had managed to trap six crooked cops from Mumbai Police in as many months. The relentless scandals had greatly embarrassed the outgoing commissioner, Subodh Jaiswal. This time, Barve is in the hot seat, and unwilling to face similar embarrassment.

As the new Comissioner, Sanjay Barve now finds himself in the same position as his predecessor Subodh Jaiswal (below), who was repeatedly left red-faced after the ACB trapped his cops for corruption. File Pics

His four horsemen
Soon after taking charge as Commissioner of Police (CP), Barve took a high-level meeting with all senior officers of Mumbai Police and instructed his four joint commissioners of police to address corruption in the force, among other issues. After a brief discussion, he came up with the idea to have each of the joint CPs visit one police station a day over the next month.

According to senior officials, this will not only help them keep tabs on the workings of the officers, but will also help lower-rank cops to connect with seniors directly. Till date, only additional and deputy commissioners have paid routine visits at police stations.

The four joint CPs will cover 94 police stations between them. The Joint CP for Crime has been asked to visit the West and North region, while Joint CP for Law and Order will visit the East region. Similarly, the Jt CP for the Economic Offences Wing has been given charge of the Central region, and Jt CP (Admin) is in charge of the South region. Barve has asked them to collect information on attendance, pending cases, problems faced by lower rank staff, as well as study the root cause of corruption.

Also Read: Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve: All measures will be taken to keep the city safe

Different approaches
The news that high-rank officials will visit local police stations has created quite a buzz among the lower-rung staff, especially those with tainted records. mid-day had earlier reported that at least 89 such cops might be shunted to the control room as per instructions issued by erstwhile CP Jaiswal, after he was repeatedly left red-faced by his men getting caught for graft.

There are whispers at the local police level that Barve has told senior officials there is no need for such transfers, and instead the focus should be on sensitising cops during the joint CPs' visits. However, Barve has denied giving any such instructions.

Joint CP Admin Santosh Rastogi said, "It was just a routine shift for the purpose of training for the upcoming general and state elections. As far as corruption within the force is concerned, we have always been taking steps to sensitise them."

Meanwhile, mid-day reached out to several junior cops who had been shifted to the control room for almost 10 days, who said no election-related training was given to them. Instead, the cops were taught yoga, and attended lectures on depression. All of them have since been reinstated in their respective police stations in the wake of rumours that a female constable from Malwani had attempted suicide to protest her transfer to the control room. The police had denied any such incident.

Sources have also revealed to this paper that some seniors who were asked to list out tainted cops had only given details of police personnel who were not in their good books.

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates