Gathering dust at police premises, over 21k vehicles wait for final resting place
New Delhi: Gathering dust, some piling up in police stations, some in auto ponds, the Delhi Police now has over 21,000 vehicles found involved in criminal cases or road accidents, lying unclaimed or stuck in criminal proceedings.
Police Sources told Millennium Post that (till June 25) 2,752 cars and taxis, more than 15,000 two-wheelers, as many as 569 three-seater Auto Rickshaws (TSRs), 412 heavy and medium transport vehicles, 298 light transport vehicles and over 1,500 other vehicles were found lying in auto ponds or police stations.
According to an order issued by Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava, "Transportation of case property should be minimised after taking due permission from the concerned Court. Other means of production should be explored, like photography and videography of the case property." The top cop had directed that whenever a case property is deposited by the IO, it shall be ensured that the item has been properly disinfected and only then be allowed for storage in the Malkhana.
Police said that in order to clean, clear and create more space at police station premises, all the vehicles seized by local police will now be shifted to the centralized malkhanas. "The centralized Malkhana has been equipped with proper fencing and lighting, CCTV cameras, stock register and round the clock deployment of staff," police said.
The official said that vehicles are often found lying in police custody as owners had already claimed insurance and did not wish to collect the vehicle anymore. "The insurance companies are then asked to take away the vehicle and in the rare case that they do not do so, it is found that they want to save on the cost of transporting, storing, and disposing of the vehicles," the official added.
The official added that there were also cases where the accused had changed chassis and engine numbers of the vehicles which makes the process of tracking down the owner all the more cumbersome. "Sometimes they modify the vehicles by using different parts of several cars and it becomes a difficult task to track the owner. As a result, the vehicles keep gathering dust with districts, units," the official said. There are also vehicles that are stuck in possession disputes and take a long time to be cleared.
The vehicles are also released through Superdari which means that the owner of the property has to safeguard it till the final report in the case is filed. Apart from vehicles involved in road accidents, there were cars, motorbikes involved in street crime and trafficking. "Criminals also use trucks, modified vehicles for liquor and drug trafficking," an official said, adding that stolen vehicles are also used in street crime. Last year as many as 46,215 motor vehicle theft cases were registered whereas in the current year till May, about 11,995 cases were reported with Delhi Police. In the year 2018, the Delhi Police's e-malkhana project was inaugurated. The digitisation of all case properties, their bar-coding, packaging as well as ordered arrangement in proper shelves is among the measures taken by Delhi Police towards achieving the objective of smart policing.
