Ghaziabad: Surprise checks at night, boosting beat policing in SSP plan

GHAZIABAD: The Ghaziabad police is at the forefront in the battle against Covid-19, but it’s also facing the daunting task of dealing with the rising crime rate in the district. In an exclusive interview, SSP Kalanidhi Naithani spoke on the challenges his force is facing and how they are evolving with the times.

Our staff strength is 4,500, which is not enough for a district like Ghaziabad.Moreover, around 25% of the police force is deployed across 350-plus containment areas. Anyway, I have asked SP (city) for an explanation on the rising crime graph, and ordered him as well as and SP (rural) to conduct surprise checking at night as well. Cops are vigilant at all the 58 checkpoints at borders. Several teams have also been formed to nab all the accused in the recent crimes.

The Vikram Tyagi case is a challenge for us. Investigation is being done by a team and we hope to crack the case soon. We are in touch with our counterparts in Haryana, Delhi and Uttarakhand. Recently UP-STF has also come into the picture. Zone-level meetings with Muzaffarnagar and Meerut police teams have been held too.

We are very close to solving all the cases. In journalist Vikram Joshi murder case, we have arrested nine people, including the prime suspect, while another accused, Amit Bihari, is absconding. In the Fortuner loot case, we are close to cracking it.

We are sticking to basic policing, embellished with technology. We are also preparing a database of 9,527 criminals who are out on bail. We are going to open the history sheets of 600 criminals who are involved in cyber crime and cheating cases.