(Reproduced
from Mumbai Mirror 14th April 2008 pg 15)
Delhi police
dread man who ‘stings’
Chetan
Prakash has secured the suspension of 150 policemen
after secretly filming them harassing people and
taking bribes
NEW DELHI: Chetan Prakash — the
name spells dread for Delhi policemen. He is not a
criminal, but scores of police personnel are afraid
of falling foul of “the sting man”. The
low-profile property dealer has secured the
suspension of 150 policemen after secretly filming
them harassing people and taking bribes — a la
sting operations.
IT STARTED ABOUT NINE YEARS AGO
“It all started in 1999. Local police used to
trouble vendors by demanding money and beating up
those who refused. When I tried to intervene, they
locked me up and beat me. That day I decided that I
would not take it lying down. I got a tape recorder
and taped their voices. Then I appeared before the
DCP, who suspended the two erring policemen,”
Prakash, 33, said about his first victory against the
system gone wrong.
98 COPS WERE SUSPENDED RECENTLY
Prakash’s work recently came to light as 98
policemen were suspended by Delhi Police after his
spy camera filmed them extorting money from the
operators of the privately-owned fleet of
“killer” Blueline buses. The cops were
seeking bribes to release the buses impounded for
rash driving or after an accident.
HE BORROWED
CAMERA FROM FRIEND
Prakash carried a spy camera,
given to him by his friend, in his cap, and
pen to film the errant traffic policemen
after a bus operator approached him. The tape
was submitted before the Delhi High Court.
“I could not afford the spy cam costing
Rs 80,000 so my friend bought it for
me,” Prakash said.
“I had a hand-held video camera in 2003. I shot
around 300 policemen taking money from bootleggers.
But police came to know about it and they even tried
to kill me. They took away the films,” said
Prakash sitting in his office in Shyam Vihar in
Najafgarh, southwest Delhi.
“I remained in hiding for one year. In 2005, I
submitted the leftover shots of 56 policemen in the
high court. This led to the suspension of 26
policemen then.”
Prakash has also filmed policemen at check posts
taking money from truck drivers to allow them
passage. This led to the suspension of some 25
policemen.
His constant brushes with the men in uniform might
sound heroic, but his two children, wife and parents
live in dread.
“They are afraid that either police will kill me
or they will get me killed by some criminal. But my
fight is with the system,” says Prakash in a
matter-of-fact manner. IANS
(Similiar
is the case in Mumbai. After police arrested I K
Chhugani in a false case in 2005, a NGO PLEAD was
registered and Writ petitions were filed against
illegal Police chowkies ... & Court order
received for demolishing 6,000 illegal police
chowkies across Maharashtra refer... http://www.RoguePolice.com/howmany.htm )
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