Delhi Police arrests own Head Constable for stealing Rs 50 lakh, gold from anti-terror unit’s warehouse

New Delhi, June 2 Exposing the criminal mentality of some men in Khaki, the Delhi Police arrested one of its own personnel for stealing Rs 50 lakh and valuables from the anti-terror unit’s warehouse in South Delhi, an official said on Monday.

Head Constable Khurshid, who was shifted out of the Special Cell to the East District a few days ago, was arrested on Saturday for stealing Rs 50 lakh in cash in addition to gold jewellery of an unspecified amount from the Special Cell malkhana (store room) at the Lodhi Road office, the official said.

He was identified and arrested using CCTV footage of Friday night when the theft took place, he said, adding that the stolen items have been recovered.

According to officials, Khurshid relied upon departmental information about the presence of valuables and cash in the malkhana to execute the theft.

Khurshid managed to execute his plan flawlessly and could have got away easily but for an alert malkhana incharge who detected that there was something amiss in the warehouse, the police said.

The arrested Head Constable was earlier posted in the malkhana but was transferred to East Delhi a few days ago, said an official.

“He was aware of the articles kept in the warehouse and also the process to access them,” he said.

He allegedly timed his theft around his transfer so that the suspicion of the absence of the valuables and cash would fall on his other colleagues in the Special Cell’s malkhana.

The Special Cell is a specialised unit of the Delhi Police tasked to prevent, detect and investigate cases of terrorism, organised crime and other serious crimes in Delhi.

While penal offences committed by policemen are probed by the law enforcers themselves, allegations of misconduct with public are investigated by the Delhi government’s Police Complaints Authority.

Authority Chairperson Justice Poonam A. Bamba, former Judge of the Delhi High Court, said in the Annual Report 2023-24 that a total of 1,688 complaints were received and carried forward during the period.

During the year, 649 cases were disposed of, leaving 1,039 cases pending. The percentage of disposals stood at 38.44 per cent.

The Authority is also authorised to probe public complaints related to extortion, land or house grabbing and other incidents involving serious abuse of authority. Complaints of illegal detention, police custody death or rape and grievous hurt in police custody are also probed by the Authority.

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