Mumbai underworld trying to get foothold in Pune -- police Chief

Mumbai underworld trying to get foothold in Pune -- police Chief
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

PUNE, AUG 20: The underworld gangs of Mumbai are desperately trying to get a foothold in Pune, which is fast emerging as the industrial nerve-centre of Maharashtra, according to city police commissioner K K Kashyap.

Mainly the Arun Gawli and Chhota Shakeel gangs are trying to spread their network in the city, Kashyap said in an interview here today.

``The tentacles of the underworld were noticed in the Ladkat murder took place in 1998. We have been keeping a strict watch on the activities of lumpen elements and have nabbed some of the underworld criminals,'' he said.

The activities of the Chhota Shakeel gang in Pune came to the fore with the arrest of two gangsters, Riyaz Patel and Mohin Khan, sometime ago. Mohin Khan is now in jail.

Kashyap said growing economic activity in Pune was attracting the underworld, and added, ``However, we are taking all steps to ensure that they do not make Pune the focus of their activities.''

Kashyap stressed on revamping of the criminal justice system for quick disposal of cases.

``This system, which has four pillars - police, prosecution, judiciary and jail - is in a pathetic state. Unless the entire system is revamped, the society, state and the country as a whole will continue to suffer,'' he said.

The inability of the system to quickly bring to book murderers even in a cases like the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and the 1992-93 Mumbai riots was a testimony to the failure of the present system, he said, citing, in contrast, the case relating to the bomb blast in the World Trade Centre in New York, in which the culprits were arrested, prosecuted and convicted within 18 months of the crime.

Kashyap lamented the excessive use of police for non-police work such as providing security to VIPs and deployment during examinations and elections, but said the State Government was looking into the matter.

The Police Commissioner was aware of the poor public image of the police which, he said, was the result of a communication-gap between the cops and the society.

``Many people view the police as a brute-force, insensitive and corrupt with little hope of improvement. But they fail to see the pathetic conditions in which the policeman is placed.

This serious communication gap can be filled by opening channels of communication and interaction between the police and society through participative policing,'' he said.