Mumbai police's 'khabri' network is made up of mostly wealthy businessmen and property owners, and it is one they need to keep well-oiled and happy at all times
Avinash Solanki aka Bali
The image of the quintessential 'informer', 'khabri' or 'tipper', a vital cog in the Mumbai police's wheel, is mostly of a shabbily dressed, emaciated man, lurking behind trees and lamp posts, making furtive calls to the cops. An image fed by films and crime serials. What isn't widely known is that most informers are wealthy businessmen and property owners. Avinash Solanki, aka Bali, the informer who was bumped off recently, led a lavish lifestyle; his proximity to the police, a mere bonus. What isn't in doubt, however, is that all informers have a large role to play in the police force.
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In 2005, when a crime branch inspector was dismissed from service for links with the underworld, a deputy commissioner of police had sarcastically commented, "They want us to end the underworld, but will executives in suits and ties give us information? To catch a thief one needs to mingle with thieves."
Bali's murder laid bare the thin line police officers have to tread to cultivate informers. They have to be extremely cautious in their treatment of them as most are usually involved in crime themselves. Though they pass on important tip-offs, there are times when they are only trying to settle scores.
Former director general of police, Praveen Dixit, said the information passed on is treated at par with the highest input, but is always, without exception, verified. "Knowing why the informer is giving us the information is important. There are cases of those who do it in revenge over old rivalries or enmity, while some do it for money," he said.
Trying to fool the cops
Naquee Ahmed was a notorious informer who had tried to manipulate the police. In the Zaveri Bazaar, Opera House and Dadar blasts of July, 2011, the Maharashtra ATS had launched a massive probe to find the suspects in which all clues pointed to the Indian Mujahideen (IM). While the ATS was probing the case, Ahmed quietly went over to the Delhi police with information about IM's key man, Yasin Bhatkal. The ATS probe, however, found that Ahmed had stolen the bikes used to plant the bombs, and had provided SIM cards the accused had used to communicate with each other during the blasts. The ATS finally arrested him in the case.
In another case, informer Kumail Merchant was arrested by the Thane police from Goa in December 2017. He had tipped off the cops about the Rs 2,000-crore drug racket, in which Vicky Goswami and actor Mamta Kulkarni were involved. It was later learnt that he had been providing tip-offs about his rivals.
Vijay Palande's was another well known case; he was arrested in 2012 in the murders of Arunkumar Tikku and Karankumar Kakkad. He was a police informer and had helped them bag a big gangster earlier and solve many other cases. Yet, Palande had a double murder conviction back in 1998 and a passport case, too.
Dangerous game
Then there are those like Bali, who have paid with their lives. In February 2017, informer Wasiullah Shaikh was beaten to death at Andheri by six scrap dealers for leaking information in a theft case in Nashik. In October 2006, informer Amjad Khan and his associate were shot dead in Kalaghoda. The prosecution said the killings were a fallout of rivalry in the narcotics trade.
Crime branch officers said informers, at the end of the day, are only human, unable to resist the lure of easy money. There have been innumerable high-profile cases that the informers have helped solve, but in which they have got mixed up themselves. The police's job is to sift the information they need from the vested interests of these crucial 'links' to unsolved criminal cases.
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