Corrupt policemen guarding President

Seventy policemen facing corruption charges are posted at Rashtrapati Bhavan and attached to various VIPs. Vijaita Singh reports.

Here's a shocker.

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Corrupt policemen guard even the first citizen of the country — the President.

Seventy policemen facing corruption charges are posted at Rashtrapati Bhavan and attached to various VIPs.

In numbers

Disciplinary action against policemen in the past 4 years

2007 2291

2008 1149

2009 1428

2010 (Till June) 770

In the past four years alone, 4,603 policemen have been booked on various corruption charges in Delhi.

A Right To Information (RTI) query has revealed that 38 policemen at the President's House and 32 in the security unit of Delhi Police are facing various corruption charges.

Almost 90 per cent of these policemen were posted in the of Delhi Police's traffic wing when they faced bribery charges.

After complaints against them, they were moved to the President's House, which has a separate security unit.

Th police said the President's House security is considered as a "non-sensitive posting" and so chances of them indulging in corruption are low.

There are a total of 849 policemen guarding the President's Estate.

"It is a fact that whoever has corruption charges against him is moved to the security unit. It is considered as a shunted unit and public dealing is nil. So it makes sense to transfer these policemen to such a non-sensitive posting. You can't give them salaries while they sit at home on corruption charges," said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.

The RTI reply revealed that action was taken against one of the policeman when he misused the name of a senior police officer to arrange a job for someone on monetary grounds.

As many as 248 police personnel have been dismissed on corruption charges in the past four years.

The revelation came on an RTI application filed by an activist Gopal Prasad,a resident of Mandawali.

In the past 10 years, 60 policemen have been convicted of various corruption charges and investigations are pending against 60 others.

The security wing of Delhi Police that guards several VIPs and VVIPs has 32 corrupt policemen on their rolls.

"We have to deploy these people somewhere till charges are proved against them. Security wings are the safest options," said the officer.

Even the provision and logistics department of the Delhi Police had 15 alleged corrupt policemen on their rolls.

The department is responsible for procuring all the equipment and weapons for the police.