News

 

Robber gang arrested
The Crime Division of the Western Province arrested three suspected members of a robber gang.

Police acting on a tip-off arrested the suspects in Borella and Kelaniya and seized jewellery worth more than Rs. 200,000 and a baby pistol. They said the gang had confessed to several robberies in Avissawella, Kandana, Ratmalana and Thummulla. The suspects had said the jewellery belonged to a family that was staying at an Avissawella resthouse. The suspects were produced in court and remanded.


House to debate Railway issue
A day long adjournment debate on the conversion of the Railway Department into an Authority will take place when Parliament meets on Wednesday.

Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse has already made a statement to Parliament on the issue in late July where he accused the government of using a law passed in 1993 to convert the Department to an Authority.

Parliament is also set to debate the Inland Revenue (Special provisions) Bill that is seeking to extend the date within which tax offenders can claim an amnesty from June 30 till August 15. However, this Bill is being challenged in courts.


Bogus book two years old
Rift in Negombo police reveals scam on complaints
By Chris Kamalendran and Nalaka Nonis.
A professional dispute among three inspectors in the Negombo police station brought to light the maintenance of a highly secretive and fake complaint book that took the unwary redress-seeking complainants for a ride.

The fake complaint book, with its 26 complaints, that was discovered by Police Chief T. E. Anandarajah, was only the tip of the iceberg, according to what was revealed by Negombo police sources to The Sunday Times. The police sources say the bogus complaint book was in existence for more than two years. The disgusting practice of maintaining a fake complaint book was to show their superiors the crime rate in the Negombo police division was low.

Many a complainant who had their complaint recorded went away feeling satisfied but unaware the complaint made in good faith had only been recorded in the fake complaint book and would never be investigated.

The Negombo police sources said the fake complaint book was destined to be around for much longer if not for the rift that surfaced between the HQI and two inspectors that led to the scandal seeing the light of day.

The bone of contention between the HQI on the one hand and the two inspectors on the other was that the HQI had been harshly critical of the two inspectors for their professional incompetence and misconduct.

According to police sources one of the two inspector's who was the officer-in-charge of the tourist police was reprimanded by the Headquarters Inspector for alleged incidents of sexual misconduct and the other had been faulted for lack of professionalism in the performance of his duties. This had angered the two inspectors who are said to have hatched a plot against the HQI by revealing the existence of the fake complaint book about which the HQI had been aware of, from the time the book had made its appearance at the police station.

The sources revealed that the two inspectors had hired the services of a police sergeant to steal the fake complaint book and sent it to the IGP in an effort to implicate the HQI.

It is the usual practice in police stations to enter complaints in the 'grave crime information book' (GCIB) and at the end of the day rewrite them in another book called the 'grave crime register' (GCR). This not only helps maintain records in duplicate but also is a check to make sure that the records in the GCIB and GCR tally.

The duplicity adopted by the Crime Branch in the Negombo police as part of their daily allotted daily duty was to use the fake complaint book to enter some of the complaints that were received.

Later in the evening the Crime Branch duty officers would destroy complaints recorded in the fake complaint book and thereby ensuring that they do not appear in the GCR. Chain snatching, cattle looting, illegal felling of trees, extorting money and robberies are some of the crimes that had been recorded in the forged complaint book.

However sources in the police confirmed that a large number of complaints had been recorded in the fake book during the last couple of years.

Though this serious situation that existed in the Negombo police station yet it was ironical that some of the officers claimed they were unaware such a book was being used to record complaints. One policeman attached to the Negombo police told The Sunday Times that he narrowly escaped interdiction or transfer for the crime being involved in the fake complaint book scandal as he had also unwittingly entered two complaints in the book without knowing it was not the real thing.

However in most instances the policeman involved in the scam were shrewd enough to visit those against whom complaints were made to give the complainant the impression that their complaint was being followed up, but the truth of the matter was that nothing really happened. The criteria for an entry to be recorded in either of the books depended on the complainants social standing, or his connections.

By this action the Negombo police have not only attempted to hoodwink the public but have also been guilty of violating an individual's human rights.

People who come under the jurisdiction of Negombo police say their confidence in the police has been eroded with those who should have provided them assistance have in reality only cheated them.

A young person named Lahiru Jude living in the Pamunugama area who had lodged a compliant at the Negombo police station on June 29 over in an incident of physical harassment by another person told The Sunday Times that upto date the police has taken no action with regard to his complaint.

"They neither came to record a statement from the person who brutally assaulted me nor called him to the police station, now the person who assaulted me is moving freely without any hindrance", the worried young man said.

Jagath Keerawinna, the SSP of the Negombo Police Division told The Sunday Times that the maintenance of a forged complaint book by the Negombo police is a grave human rights violation and an offence of misleading the public.

"They have not only misled the people in their jurisdiction, but they have cheated police force including the IGP and this is a bad record for the country", the SSP said.

He said that as a result of this unfortunate scandal, culprits are seen freely moving about in Negombo and in actual fact the crime rate in the area has been doubled contradicting what the Negombo police attempted to show.

The SSP pointed out that police had not provided the complainants with the 1B form, which is given to the complainants after lodging their complaints as a proof of their complaint.

Mr. Keerawinna too admitted that the reason this scam was exposed was because the HQI and the two inspectors fell out and added that many who must now be aware that their complaints may have been recorded in the fake complaint book may be reluctant to take any action because of their fear of the police. After this racket was exposed, the Negombo HQI was transferred to Peliyagoda while five other police officers have been interdicted.


Back to Top  Back to News  

Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Contact us: | Editorial | | Webmaster|