Pathak to crack down on hardened criminals under tough state law

PUNE: The Pune police will take stringent action against criminals involved in serious offences under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) every week, police commissioner K K Pathak said on Thursday.
Pathak, speaking at an interaction with the Pune Union of Working Journalists, said, “We have updated the records of all gangs and criminals at police station levels.We plan to take stringent action against criminals who have committed more than two offences in the last six months under the MPDA.”
The commissioner said police has taken action against Jai alias Nunya Rajesh Bhosale (22) from Kasba Peth involved in body offences, planning dacoity and fire arms under the MPDA. “He was detained for one year at the Yerawada central prison on Wednesday. The action will deter suspects from committing serious crimes and will help police in maintaining peace, law and order in the city,” he added.
On chain snatching cases, the police chief claimed that incidents have declined drastically in the last few days after the police started raiding residences of suspects. “Our team has also nabbed chain snatchers from Parali in Beed district. Police will continue to take such action,” he said.
Pathak announced the setting up of a special cell for recovering country-made revolvers and pistols. “I am reviewing the work done by the policemen posted at the cell every 48 hours.”
“In Maharashtra, the procedure for getting a licence is a cumbersome process. If the licences are made available easily, then the situation will become like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where people move freely with country-made revolvers and pistols. The licences are issued in exceptional cases, for instance, if there is a threat perception or injury caused to a person,” he said.
Pathak added that police have, until now, mostly been arresting middlemen for allegedly possessing fire arms. “We will try to trace source of the weapons. In Nagpur, we had also taken action against suspects involved in manufacturing fire arms from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,” he said.
The top cop further stressed that regulation of traffic on city roads will be given top priority. “I have issued an order not to take action against violators during peak hours in the morning and evening. We will also take action against traffic violators when nakabandi operations are launched once a week,” he added.
Pathak also spoke about reducing the response time of police officials reaching the scene. “The policemen usually take five to seven minutes time to reach a crime scene. With the police increasing its visibility at public places, we further hope to reduce the response time to reach the spot instantly after getting information about the incident from the public or the city police control room. We are also conducting a study on the number of phone calls received on emergency number 100 on a daily basis,” he said.