I left the police force in 2005 because I could not stand the level of corruption prevailing. In my 1985 batch of 82 officers, every other officer was promoted to Joint Commissioner of Police. Only I remained at the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police. You can be tolerated in the force if you are honest but inefficient. But not if you are honest and also active. Then you are dumped in a non-executive posting.
Today, society does not care for upright officers. Society makes heroes out of dead people. But have you ever seen a living officer elevated to the status of a hero? Dynamic people are dumped without consideration of merit. During my two stormy decades in the IPS, I was also posted in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
I could not stomach indiscipline. In a disciplined force, you cannot be indisciplined. So I decided to leave the IPS and take up law. I had a Master’s in economics and got a gold medal in the LLM exam.
In the force and also in the legal profession, my forte has been dealing with sensitive cases related to conventional crime, land scams, corporate and government corruption, illegal construction, bureaucrats’ cases and human rights violations. I have recently exposed three major cases – the Adarsh Society scam, the Lavasa scam and the Floor Space Index (FSI) parking scam.
Corruption is generic in our country. The question is how to stop the increase in the level of corruption. If we are able to arrest its rise somewhat, it can be considered a success. But cases like Adarsh have hit us hard.
Corruption is generic in our country. The question is how to stop the increase in the level of corruption. If we are able to arrest its rise somewhat, it can be considered a success. But cases like Adarsh have hit us hard. Corruption has become systemized. The corrupt have become impudent. The 2G Spectrum scam is a reflection of this.
In most corruption cases, the investigating and law enforcement agencies have been managed. They have become amenable to being managed. I do not think there is anything wrong with the investigating agencies. It is the law enforcement agencies that have been corrupted. You need to have good people in the right places.
Stricter laws will not solve any problems. There is an attitudinal change, we are becoming more materialistic. I do not see any solution in sight. Maybe the death penalty would reduce corruption. Indians are religious. With corruption becoming ingrained in our culture, we feel that if we pray to God, we will be saved.
There are no laws that offer protection to whistleblowers or witnesses. All we have is a vague government circular on whistleblowers which does not offer witness protection. If there is no witness protection, who will dare to be a whistleblower? Witness protection needs to be incorporated into the proposed legislation.
At the core of corruption is confidence of getting away. Besides, there is very little fear of the law among the corrupt…. Protection is an inbuilt component in all contracts for purchase of postings.
At the core of corruption is confidence of getting away. Besides, there is very little fear of the law among the corrupt. That is because they have purchased that position for themselves. Protection is an inbuilt component in all contracts for purchase of postings. The Right to Information (RTI) Act has only emboldened corrupt officials. The protection from the ambit of the law that they get while purchasing the posting is the reason for their brazen disregard for the law. The RTI now offers open protection to the corrupt. Their blunt retort is, get the document and do what you want to do next. That is because of the protection that the official is assured of in the oral contract while purchasing the posting.
If you have tainted bureaucrats at the helm in law enforcement agencies, public confidence in them is dented. The essential principle under the Constitution is that justice should not just be done, but be seen to be done. If you have tainted people manning these agencies then whatever judgments they pass will be viewed with suspicion.
The situation in the Maharashtra police has improved under Home Minister RR Patil. The scourge of corruption is more visible in departments manned by the IAS, be it Urban Development, Housing, SRA. It symbolizes the collapse of the rule of law.
The Police department is as corrupt as any other government department. It was least corrupt in the immediate post-Independence era. When I joined the IPS in 1985, the extent of corruption was less. Since Chhagan Bhujbal took over as Home Minister in 1999, the corruption in the force has risen. You can very well imagine the situation when a court has twice struck down appointments of two police chiefs in Maharashtra as illegal.
After 26/11 there was a hue and cry over the quality of some of the equipment such as bullet-proof jackets purchased by the department. There is an institutionalized cartel in the system of procurement. Crores of rupees are being allocated in the name of modernization. Lots of unwanted equipment is being purchased. There are two or three cartels who act as suppliers. They either quote themselves or bid for others or float other companies that ultimately bid for purchases. They have a very close understanding with those who place the orders. When the deal is struck, the price and quality hardly matter.
Rifle magazines were purchased. On delivery, it was found that they did not fit the weapon. A symbolic inquiry was ordered, nothing happened. A report on the purchase of the bullet-proof jackets pointed out that they were sub-standard. Yet the department went ahead and procured them. The senior officer who sanctioned the purchase ought to have been sacked.
The biggest blot on the police force was the 1991 fake stamp paper scam engineered by Abdul Karim Telgi. The police colluded with Telgi in allowing him to sell his fake stamp papers. It acted as his agents. But the subsequent clean-up witnessed the force taking action against its own men such as former Mumbai Police Commissioner Ranjeet S Sharma. The police had the guts to take action against its own men.
It is very easy for a junior officer who has just joined to fall prey and get corrupted. The so-called friends of the police cosy up to the junior officers with ideas for making a quick buck. It is usually a Sub-Inspector who acts as the link between businessmen running illegal businesses and the police officer. Since the number of IPS officers is less, any act committed by any officer anywhere in the state is easily noticed by the rest of the tribe.
Moreover, a corrupt officer will be more preoccupied with his ill-gotten wealth than with policing. It is not just one person who gets the money. Despite the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Vigilance Commission, you cannot do much about it. The money trail goes right up to the top brass. If those below try to stop the flow of bribes, their career will be ruined. The easy way to cover up any allegation of corruption is to institute an inquiry which then goes on for years and people tend to forget about it.
In my first book, Carnage by Angels, I had fictionalized and shown how the Sub-Inspector or constable or so-called friends of the police lure young officers into corruption. My second book, Vultures in Love, was a thriller about corruption against the backdrop of the CBI, Income Tax and Customs departments.
I was invited to direct a feature film, Kya Yahi Sach Hai, based on my first book. It will be released next year but has already won an international award.
