Delay in investigation: Officers are misleading govt: Vij

Miffed with the stance of top police brass against ‘non-performing’ investigating officers (IOs), who have not completed probe in one-year-old first information reports (FIRs), Haryana home minister Anil Vij on Tuesday shot off another hard-hitting official note, saying that officers have tried to mislead the state government on this hot-button administrative matter.

Four weeks after Vij had ordered the director general of police (DGP) Shatrujeet Kapur to place under suspension 372 IOs, who had allegedly not disposed of the FIRs registered in the last one year, the home minister on November 20 afternoon received the action taken report.

The home minister had been asking the police department for quite some time now about the tardy pace of investigation in year-old FIRs, and had sought a status report of such cases.

Vij had also directed the DGP to hand over the investigations of these FIRs pending with 372 IOs to the concerned deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) and finish the probe in a month.

Sources say that on November 14, Vij had sent a memo to the police department, seeking the status of the investigation pending in the FIRs as of October 26.

After perusal of the status report submitted on Monday, the home minister on Tuesday wrote back that it was noticed in the present report that of the total 372 cases, the action has already been taken in 273 cases by the concerned IOs before October 26, 2023.

The home minister declined to comment on his latest missive when contacted personally in the Civil Secretariat before he chaired a meeting to review law and order situation. Additional chief secretary (ACS-home) TVSN Prasad, DGP Shatrujeet Kapur and battery of senior police officers were present in the meeting in which Vij directed that every complaint should be disposed of within three months.

“In his latest note on Tuesday, Vij has drawn the attention of the DGP towards the September 4, 2023 report in which it was mentioned that a total 3,229 cases have been pending for over one year. Due to unsatisfactory reasons given in 372 cases, Vij has said that he had ordered to place all 372 IOs under suspension, but the department has so far suspended 99 IOs,” senior officials privy to the development said.

Sources say Vij has referred to the “major difference in both the reports,” pointing out that not only at least one “report is false” but also “the officer(s) has tried to mislead the government.”

“This is a very serious matter and needs to be enquired into...explanation of the concerned may be called and accordingly responsibility should also be fixed in the matter,” reads the note of health minister, said sources.

Earlier, in an October 23 communiqué to the DGP, the home minister had stated that he had been repeatedly asking for early disposal of the FIRs registered in the state. In September Vij had ordered that explanation be sought from all IOs who had not finalised/disposed of the FIRs in a year.

“ The number of cases was very high... almost 3,229. I am pained to know that despite my instruction, still 372 IOs are those who have not finally disposed of the cases and reason quoted by them are not satisfactory,” Vij had said, adding people were feeling harassed due to police inaction.

“This is a very serious matter and cannot be ignored. I would like that all these investigating officers be put under suspension immediately and their cases be transferred to respective DSPs for final disposal in a month, otherwise, action will be taken against those officers also,” the home minister had written in his earlier note to the DGP.

As per official records, among the 372 IOs under the radar of Vij are the highest 80 in Gurugram, followed by Sirsa (66), Yamunanagar (57), Ambala (33), Faridabad (32), and Rohtak (31).