Delhi Police hike reward for info on illegal guns trade

Under a new scheme to encourage people to come forward with information that may help the police bust illegal firearms, the Delhi Police have increased the reward money from Rs1,000-Rs5,000 to ₹10,000-Rs25,000.

Last month, a team of Delhi police officers arrested two alleged criminals Shailesh Kumar and Mohammad Hanif, with seven country made pistols, one motorcycle, a machine and equipment used in making firearms. During interrogation, both the accused disclosed that they, along with their associates used to make illegal firearms and sold them in the national capital.

In cases of weapons seized from city criminals, Delhi police have in these years pinned the source of country made pistols to illegal factories in places such as Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Aligarh, Agra, Mathura, Ghaziabad. (HT Photo)

In another case, police arrested a man, Sahil alias Vicky, who was involved in a robbery at Geeta Colony with a country made pistol and three live cartridges.

In both the cases, the police teams were alerted by informers, mostly locals, who were helping the police in a special operation against the illegal arms. Police handed both a cash reward of ₹10,000.

Under a new scheme to encourage people to come forward with information that may help the police bust illegal firearms, the Delhi Police have increased the reward money from Rs1,000-Rs5,000 to ₹10,000-Rs25,000.

“In the last five months, over 25 people have been rewarded for information about illegal weapons. Till now, we have been giving ₹1,000 to 5,000 to the informers who shared information about such criminals. But now under the new scheme, they will get at least ₹10,000,” said a senior police officer involved with the operation while speaking on condition of anonymity.

The police informer in the second case said the Sahil alias Vicky used to trap gullible youngsters of the village to make easy money.

HT is not disclosing the identity of the informers for their safety.

Senior police officers said the identity of such informers is kept secret, and their safety is ensured.

The Delhi Police has also asking informers to use smartphones and spy cameras, in a bid to receive concrete information. Under the eyes and ears scheme of the police, citizens are encouraged to keep an eye on suspicious and illegal activities around them, and inform the police.

Delhi Police commissioner Rakesh Asthana said the new initiative aims to bolster the information flow. “Policing boundaries are defined by law, but it should not mean that there is no scope for innovation and experimentation. The idea is to involve the public in information gathering. It is yielding positive results. Our beat policemen are sensitizing all the stakeholders such as watchmen, security guards, vegetable and fruit vendors, parking attendants, drivers, residents and traders’ welfare associations, so that they can keep their eyes on criminals in their areas and share information with us,” he said.

“The identity of the informer will be kept secret. If someone wants to share the information directly with me, it can be sent as text or WhatsApp message, directly on my official number. These informers are paid secretly as secrecy is an important aspect in cracking crime,” Asthana said.

Former Delhi Police chief Ajay Raj Sharma there are several citizens who want to help the “system” if their identity is protected.

“It can really yield very good results in crackdown against the illegal arms, if the police offer cash rewards as an incentive. They are officially known as confidential human source (CHS), or criminal informants (CI) within the law enforcement world. In our efforts to combat crime, oftentimes we heavily rely upon statements of our secret informers as their communications have proven vital to the detection of criminal activities,” he said.

It may be noted that at least 2,000 illegal country made pistols are seized every year in Delhi. The city’s criminals use illegals guns of different types such as country made, automatic and imported ones.

In cases of weapons seized from city criminals, Delhi police have in these years pinned the source of country made pistols to illegal factories in places such as Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Aligarh, Agra, Mathura, Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Police have also found that pistols were smuggled into Delhi from factories of Dhar, Khargone, Burhanpur, Indore, Gwalior and Sendwa in Madhya Pradesh, and also Khagaria and Munger in Bihar.