Vigilance clears decks for action

Almost all of the 98 traffic policemen caught on camera while taking bribes from Blueline operators are now certain to face action with their identity established by the Vigilance Department.

These traffic policemen were caught on a hidden camera demanding and accepting bribes from Blueline operators at 23 traffic lights and the CDs of the sting operation had reached the Delhi High Court. The sting was carried out by a Blueline bus owner, Sanjay Kumar, with the help of Chetan Prakash, a property dealer, famous for similar sting operations in the past.

On January 9, the High Court asked Kumar’s lawyer Manish Khanna to hand over a copy of the CDs to Police Commissioner YS Dadwal and also to the Home Ministry to take action.

According to sources, the CDs were then handed over to the Vigilance Department to ascertain the identities of the cops caught on camera, even though those who carried out the sting had provided names of the policemen. “The process was time consuming … to establish the identity, we had to ascertain the day, time etc. Also if the person was on duty at that time at the mentioned spot,” sources said.

“The investigations were completed and the report was handed over to the Commissioner last week. Except for two-three personnel, the identity of almost all those caught on camera has been established,” the sources added.

After the report was received, however, the Commissioner is believed to have asked for additional information before going ahead with the action.

According to officials, once the final report is submitted, action will differ from person to person. If the traffic cop needs to be transferred, the headquarters will be taking action and if it has to be departmental disciplinary action, it will be the Traffic bosses who will initiate action.

The sting carried out between September 12 and December 2 last year captured 18 sub-inspectors, six havaldars and about 74 constables in the act.