Mumbai Police: Circuit, Haddi, Hatela... Police update nicknames of criminals

MUMBAI: More than 158 gangsters or criminals, who are known by their nicknames or aliases in the crime world, have come under the police scanner. Their details are currently being collected by officers of eight police stations between Ghatkopar and Mulund, following a directive from their zonal deputy commissioner of police.

The police said criminals with aliases such as Circuit, Haddi, Hatela and Papa, among such others, are the more prominent nicknames on a database which is currently being prepared. A police officer from an east suburban police station said the DCP had ordered officials of each police station between Ghatkopar and Mulund to get hold of two criminals a day, and update the database. All such criminals have to present themselves at the police stations to update their aliases by which they are known in the crime world.

Rajendra Nikalje alias Chotta Rajan, Sheikh Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar alias Dawood Ibrahim are some of the most infamous gangsters to sport a nickname or a shortened name. "The nickname or alias is a 'degree' that criminals achieve after making it big in the crime world, in other words, after committing serious offences," said Sanjay Shintre, DCP (Zone VII). "The database is created by tracking down records of criminals who are absconding and have committed serious offences," said Shintre.

He said, "If our informant says the suspect's name is Circuit, we contact our officers and ask, 'You know a guy named Circuit?' What does he look like? Where does he live?' Then we figure out the suspect who is known by the name Circuit." He said the initiative has yielded resulted as the number of serious offences and housebreaking cases has fallen; 2,040 cases were registered between January 1 and August 25, 2011 against 2,289 in the corresponding period of the previous year.

An officer said, "The data includes their different nicknames, their current place of residence, the places they visit and the work they carry out daily for their livelihood."

He further said criminals get their nicknames changed each time they visit different jails after committing an offence. "Recently while updating the aliases, it was found that each criminal has at least four to five nicknames," the officer said.

The initiative has made many relocate their residence.

The police have been tracking nicknames for decades, typically collecting the names when criminals are arrested. "When investigators get a hit on the database, information about the suspect pops up, usually height, weight, address and criminal history, as well as a photo. Problems can arise when an informant identifies a suspect by a common nickname. To guard against picking up the wrong person, investigators check the suspect's physical description and address, pull a photo and go back to their source. The nickname, the officer said, is a starting point, not the foundation for a criminal prosecution.

MP Police: Indore-Ujjain Police: Police gets coustody of former Congress Corporater

INDORE: A lower court in Ujjain district on Friday sent Congress leader Jai Singh Darbar to police remand for a day in connection with an assault on BJYM activists during Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh's visit to that district. Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), R K Patidar sent Darbar to police custody after the law enforcers pleaded that they needed him for questioning and recovering the arms used in the assault. Madhya Pradesh High Court's Indore bench on July 12 had stayed Darbar's arrest till August 26 and directed him to take regular bail on Ujjain lower court while hearing his plea. The single bench of of Justice Shubdha Waghmare in its order had asked the lower court to decide Darbar's regular bail on merits.

Former Corporator Darbar turned up to apply for the regular bail but the police opposed it stating that they need him for interrogation and recovery of weapons used in the violence on July 17. Darbar counsels contented that their clients has been falsely implicated in the case due to political reasons and no criminal case was pending against him. Darbar along with former corporators Ananth Narayan Meena, Mukesh Bhati and former Ujjain City Youth Congress chief Aslam Lala have been charged under section 307 IPC for attacking Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) activists who were showing black flag to Singh on July 17.

The high court had stayed the arrest of Meena, Bhati and Lala till September 2 and asked them to apply for regular bail in the Ujjain Lower court in the meantime, Ujjain's Jiwajiganj police station house officer (SHO) S N Tiwari said.

WB Police: Kolkata Police: Alipore court allowed Kolkata Police to interrogate former minister and Garbeta MLA Sushanta Ghosh

MIDNAPORE/KOLKATA: Another CPM worker has been arrested in connection with the skeleton recovery case at Garbeta. On Friday afternoon, CID officers rounded up middle-aged Shanti Prachanda from Piyashal village where armed CPM men allegedly killed seven Trinamool activists and took five of the bodies to Benachapra. Shanti was a CPM branch secretary, but his name was not there in the complaint filed by Syamal Acharya.

Meanwhile, the magistrate at Alipore court allowed Kolkata Police to interrogate former minister and Garbeta MLA Sushanta Ghosh at Alipore jail in connection with the recovery of Rs 5.15 lakh from his D L Khan Road flat. On August 19, CID officers recovered the money from his flat and a case under Prevention of Corruption Act was registered at Alipore police station. On Thursday, the investigating officer in the case submitted a petition in court, seeking permission to interrogate Ghosh in jail. The appeal was granted on Friday.

CID investigators hinted that Shanti's name cropped up during interrogation of Biman Ghosh, who is now in judicial custody. CID sources said

In his statement to investigators, Ghosh reportedly admitted that he had played a key role in removing bodies of seven Trinamool activists who were killed at Piyashal. "He even told us who were with him on that day. Apart from Shanti, he mentioned some other names and we are looking for them," said a CID officer. While CID is trying to strengthen its case by building up strong circumstantial evidence, the agency faced a major jolt when Debashish Pyne, a key person in the case, refused to make a confessional statement in court.

CID officers claimed that Pyne has revealed some important details about Sushanta's nexus with an arms smuggling racket and also stated how West Midnapore CPM used to smuggle in arms and ammunition. CID officers feel that Pyne could be a key witness to nail the former minister in the arms smuggling case.

On Friday, Pyne was produced in Midnapore court along with other accused Saiful Ali, Sukumar Patar, Gunadhar Rana and Kalidas Chowdhury. Though Pyne did not appeal for bail, the court rejected bail petitions of the other accused who were remanded in judicial custody.

Gujrat Police: police commissioner transfers two inspectors of Naroda police station in connection with an abduction and honour killing case

AHMEDABAD: The city police commissioner has ordered the transfer of two inspectors of Naroda police station on Thursday, in connection with an abduction and honour killing case that was registered last month. The transfers were made as an inquiry constituted by the deputy commissioner of police found the inspectors guilty of not taking timely action and taking the case lightly when it came to them.

According to Naroda police officials, Madhuben Parmar, a resident of Vasantnagar, had filed a complaint on July 23, against Karsan Chavda, a resident of Bhuj. In her complaint, Parmar had mentioned that her son Shyam was in love with a girl named Munni. As consenting adults, Shyam was living with Munni in Parmar's house. However, on June 16, a group led by Chavda barged into her residence and abducted the two. Parmar has received no news of the duo since then.

Later, on July 28, body of a youth was found near Sanand which was later identified as that of Shyam's. Police then arrested five persons, including a woman, in connection with the case. Police had also recorded Munni's statement where she accused her own relatives for Shyam's murder.

Madhuben later wrote an application to Amit Vishwakarma, deputy commissioner of police, Zone IV, urging him to look into the matter. As per her application, police response to her complaint was lax. They preferred to get application of complaint rather than filing an FIR, and also treated it as family feud rather than a serious abduction case.

"G H Gohil and C B Patel, both inspectors of Naroda police station have been transferred on Friday. While Gohil has been transferred to special branch, Patel has been shunted to traffic branch. The post-mortem suggests that Shyam was killed soon after the abduction. As police inspectors, the two should have taken the issue seriously and booked the culprits. The five accused in the case were arrested days after the incident," said a senior city police official.

Delhi Police: Anna Hazare: Goons riding Anna wave face music

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police launched a major drive on Friday night against hooligans, stunt bikers and mischief-makers - who in the name of Anna have taken over the roads and have been harassing people. Sources said a huge number of policemen had been deployed in and around India Gate and in Central Delhi area. More than 200 violators had been nabbed within an hour of launching the drive, sources said.
The hooligans were seen stopping motorists and pedestrians on the road and forcing them to shout slogans in support of Anna. If they were not heeded, people were being threatened.
"There have been several such complaints, but by the time cops reach the spot, these hooligans disappear. They claim to be supporters of the anti-corruption movement, but indulge in unlawful activity. Organisers have told us that women have complained of molestation even at the Ramlila Grounds, but we are yet to receive any formal police complaint. As a result, we have deployed policemen in plainclothes to keep a check on the goons," said a senior police officer.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police has written to Team Anna asking them to rein in the protesters, warning them of action," said a senior police officer. The home ministry too has asked Delhi Police to maintain law and order on Delhi's roads.
But Anna aide Arvind Kejriwal said the rowdy elements were not Anna supporters. "Only wearing Anna caps and carrying the Tricolour does not make one an Anna supporter. Who knows whether rowdies who beat up policemen were not hired by elements who want to disrupt our peaceful protest," he said.
Team Anna has repeatedly been requesting his followers "not to indulge in violence or damage public property." Police has not been unable to stop the menace, despite several complaints. On Thursday night, when police stopped four bikers for violating rules at India Gate, a hundred odd men surrounded the police. "We had to ultimately let them go with a warning because it was snowballing into a law and order situation. When any such 'Anna supporter' is caught, a huge group gathers. Now, we are deploying more police personnel so that these people can be detained," said a senior police officer of the New Delhi district.
In the wee hours of Friday, more than 15 drunk men assaulted policemen outside Ramlila Maidan when they were refused entry through the VIP gate. "We have arrested two persons. A few others have been identified. A case of assault on police, damage to public property, creating mischief and causing hurt has been lodged against them. After the crackdown, we expect that instances of unlawful activities will drop," said joint CP (North) Sudhir Yadav.

MP Police: Shehla Masood murder case: police recorded the statement of an IPS officer , BJP MLA to quiz soon

BHOPAL: An embarrassed police today recorded the statement of an IPS officer in the Shehla Masood murder case while efforts are on to take the statement of an MLA of the ruling BJP. The police are obviously uncomfortable.

"We have taken statement of Pawan sir," a senior police official told TOI, "Dhruv ji ka statement bhee ho jaayega" (Dhruv Singh's statements would also be recorded), a senior police official told the TOI sheepishly.

Pawan Shrivastava is IG and posted at Ahilya Bai Police Training Centre (ABPT) in Indore while Dhruv Narayan Singh is a BJP MLA from Bhopal. Both are influential. While Shehla had written a letter to the director general of police of MP three years ago complaining about Shrivastava, Dhruv was also close to her and his mobile call details have led to the police to quiz him.

Before she turned an RTI activist, Shehla ran an event management company and Shrivastava was heading culture department. Shehla's company's payment was due from the dept and there was some dispute. Shehla had alleged that when insisted on her dues, Pawan had threatened her and "she fears risk to his life from him". After she was found dead on August 16, Shehla's family wanted the police to investigate the Shrivastava angle.

Police sources said the call details from the two mobiles of Shehla Masood had shown long conversations with Dhruv Singh. The police said that they were asked few questions like for how long they knew Shehla, and for how many times they had talked, whether she had ever said something that can be correlated with her murder etc.

"We have quizzed a large number of people who were related to Shehla, either personally or professionally. The statements of these two are also being taken in the same way," said Bhopal SSP Yogesh Choudhry.

Meanwhile, the family is still waiting for the CBI to take over the case as recommended by the MP government a few days ago.

AP Police: Police hoping to quiz two MPs, seven MLAs

HYDERABAD: The ‘list’ of people waiting for Assembly speaker Nadendla Manohar’s ‘nod’ has just gone up.
The latest to join the list are the Hyderabad City police.
Investigators probing the unauthorised sale of Tatkal railway tickets by three touts, who used signed letterheads of politicians to secure reservation under the emergency quota (EQ), are all set to seek the speaker’s permission to question the public representatives.
Letterheads of two Rajya Sabha members - MV Mysoora Reddy and Ratna Bai - too have been seized.
Topping the list of signed blank letterheads is TDP MLA from Boath, Nagesh, whose 76 letterheads were seized.
Sources associated with the investigation told Express that the investigators seized about 130 letterheads of politicians, which were used to secure the railway emergency quota.
Besides the two Rajya Sabha MPs, letterheads of seven MLAs and two former MLAs _ Shobha Hymavati and K Nageshwar Reddy _ have also been seized.
About 30 letterheads are filled-in and the remaining blank.
Interestingly, all letterheads are signed by the public representatives but the investigators say that they will have to probe whether the signatures of the politicians are genuine or forged.
‘’We will take the speaker’s permission once he is available and record the statements of all the politicians whose letterheads have been seized,’’ the sources said.
Of 10 public representatives, two are MPs.
While two belong to the Congress all others belong to the TDP.
Simultaneously, investigators are roping in forensic experts to see if the signatures are genuine or forged.
Sources said that besides recording the statements of public representatives, the role of their personal assistants (PAs) will also be probed.
‘’It is very common for them to always keep stock of blank letterheads signed by an MP or MLA.
Some charge `500 per letterhead for securing emergency quota,’’ they said.
Interestingly, on some letterheads that were seized, the accused, using a whitener, erased the name of the MLA while in a few others, the original name and date for which the letterhead was actually given, was erased and in those places other names and dates were incorporated.
While Saifabad police is probing the case, railway police have also been roped in.
Sources said they would be probing the linkages, if any, between the three accused Syed Vali Peeran, K Ramakrishna and B Giri Babu with railway staff who release the emergency quota.