Maniram failed to check crime, says Haren Pandya

GANDHINAGAR, Dec 21: The dumping of Surat Police Commissioner Maniram into the State Crime Record Bureau as IGP here and his post having ...

GANDHINAGAR, Dec 21: The dumping of Surat Police Commissioner Maniram into the State Crime Record Bureau as IGP here and his post having been downgraded confirms the general opinion that the law and order machinery in Surat has collapsed.

And on his part, Minister of State for Home Haren Pandya today conceded that the “law and order situation in Surat is not satisfactory and that a complete overhauling of the police set-up in the diamond city is expected any day”.

Faced with severe criticism from all quarters against Surat BJP councillor Nitaben Satbhaya’s brutal murder on Saturday, the Home Department shunted out Maniram and replaced him with Vadodara Police Commissioner Kuldip Sharma. Secretary, Home, J Mahapatra has been asked to take over as the Vadodara Police Commissioner. Additional DGP S Banerjee, State Crime Record Bureau, has been appointed Additional DGP, Law and Order.

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Apparently perturbed over his party councillor’s murder, Pandya told reporters that “the government has taken the incident very seriously and as a challenge to it". He charged that Maniram had failed to check crimes in Surat, including the recent rape and murder of two school girls.

He said a six-member team of the State Crime Branch, led by Special IGP H R Gehlot, was dispatched to Surat to guide and assist the local crime branch investigating the Nitaben murder. Besides castigating Maniram, he blamed “migrant criminals” for the spurt in crimes in that city.

Pandya said the Rapid Action Response Cell, set up by the Home Department on December 14, would be activated to monitor the movement of migrant criminals and take preventive measures in South Gujarat. The Cell, headed by Surat Range IGP O P Mathur and having the DSPs of four districts in the region, will mount an effective inter-district co-ordination with Maniram moved out Ã?government against the rising crime graph in that city, saying local BJP leaders and workers in particular and the people in general were very upset over the deteriorating law and order situation.

Patel, who is in-charge of Surat, alleged that police had miserably failed to detect and control crimes in Surat. “The party workers and people of Surat want a result-oriented police force to check the crimes. I have drawn the attention of both Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and Haren Pandya to this”, he told reporters.

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When asked, Patel admitted that he was gheraoed and heckled by a mob when he visited Nitaben’s house in Rander, and said "the people were expressing their anger against the tardy reaction by police to the news of the brutal murder". He said the transfers or suspension of policemen would not serve any purpose and called for drastic actions to check crimes in Surat.