SANGAREDDY: The order issued by the Director General of Police M Mahender Reddy regarding initiating action against corrupt officials is creating ripples in the police department. While the DGP’s order is not being discussed openly, internal discussions within the department is going on. Rumours have been doing the rounds that police officials in the district collect money on daily basis as per the directions of higher officials, but the bosses are pushing the blame on the lower rung officials.
A police official from Sangareddy, on condition of anonymity, said that initially an internal inquiry has to be ordered as direct action would force the officials involved to approach the court in defence. He said that if any action had to be taken against the police department, it must be taken right from the constable level to higher ups. The officials alleged that constables individually don’t take decisions regarding collecting money on daily basis, and added that higher ups were also involved in it.
The official went as far as claiming that despite the DGP knowing about this, taking action against lower level police officials was not correct. It may be mentioned here that the names of around 60 police personnel from erstwhile Medak is in the list released by the DGP. The list includes three ASIs,15 head constables, ten home guards and remaining police constables. It has been learnt that the report has the details of daily collection and officials involved in it and their shares.
Another police official said that if action was to be taken against those in the DGP’s list, around 80 per cent of the personnel would have to be punished. Meanwhile, cops whose names have appeared in the list are discussing the option to approach the court. Their argument is that several police officials were involved in corruption and taking action against just a few of them was not correct. A DSP level officer said this was not the way to improve the department.