Cops lounging in chappals, reveals surprise night check

Notorious for surprise checks, the Commissioner was shocked to see Malvani station cops in chappals

It's getting predictable, but the Mumbai police still don't seem to get the hint. In yet another surprise visit, Mumbai Commissioner Arup Patnaik was in for a surprise when he dropped in at the Malvani police station in Malad on Friday night.


What's with the Baga beach look, my friends?

Patnaik walked in to find Malvani station's officers in civil dress; some of them sporting casual flip flops instead of the customary shoes that are part of their uniform. A furious Patnaik is believed to have given them a dressing down, and the advice to perform their duty sincerely.

A police officer stationed there, on condition of anonymity, said, "We had just had our meal when suddenly he dropped in at the station. We were all surprised and weren't expecting him at the time. Some officers tend not to be in uniform during late hours, but we will have to be careful from now on."

The source says the officers were lucky that no action was taken against them and they were let off with a mere warning. This is not Patnaik's first surprise call. Just a week after taking charge, he found patrol vans meant to scan the streets of Mumbai casually parked outside late-night eateries.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) devices installed in at least 40 patrol vans were non-functional. Police patrolling vans with functional GPS systems are connected to the control room and their location can be traced at the click of a button. It helps the police improve their response time to emergency calls.

Earlier, he had found police inspector Dnyaneshwar Devade inattentive while he was giving instructions, and Devade was summoned to the police chief's office. In March, when he visited Worli, Bandra and Bangur Nagar police stations, some policemen were either sleeping or watching cricket on TV. At Worli, Senior PI Vasant Tajane was catching some sleep in his antechamber when Patnaik arrived. Even after a constable informed Tajane about the CP's presence, it took him several minutes before he woke up to greet him, say observers.