Corrupt cop lands in sting plot

Vijaita Singh, Hindustan Times, New Delhi, April 25, 2009

Sting for justice. That seems to be the message for people being harassed by corrupt policemen. Hidden cameras, as discovered by PN Sharma, are a potent weapon to bring corrupt cops to book.

And it was the Delhi Government’s anti-corruption branch (ACB) that advised Sharma — a Dwarka resident conned by a property dealer — to film a policeman asking for bribe to arrest the accused.

The ACB has encouraged several complainants in the past to take the help of secret camera to nail corrupt policemen.

Sharma is not the only one to have been cheated by property dealers in Dwarka. He had bought a plot of land from a property dealer last year. When he went to take the possession of the land he realised there were two more owners and that he had been cheated.

“The policemen would not even register a complaint. I had to approach the court on whose directions a case was registered. After registering the case, the policemen joined hands with the accused property dealers and took money from them. They asked me to lie low and not raise my voice. I decided to film the IO on camera. He even asked for money to arrest the accused,” said Sharma, a resident of Samta Enclave, Qutab Vihar in Dwarka.

The 50-minute-long CD has been handed over to the police, who are investigating the role of the policeman.

Mamta Sachdeva is another harried resident. The housewife has been running from pillar to post to get the property dealers arrested in her case.

“I purchased a plot from a property dealer for Rs 33 lakh in April last year. After a few months of taking possession, I was informed that someone was trying to break in. We came to know that the property dealer had used forged papers to sell the plot to us. It did not belong to them,” Sachdeva said.

After much persuasion the police registered an FIR in December last year.

“The property dealers roam freely in the area. When we ask the police to take action, they simply refused,” Sachdeva said. There are at least ten more victims of land fraud in Dwarka.