Missing in action: Shivdeep Lande

Patna, Jan. 22: The abrupt transfer of former Patna (city) superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande following a raid on a drug manufacturing company last year has apparently deterred the cops from carrying out such operations.

Most police officers refuse to come on record why the number of raids on commercial establishments selling fake products has gone down ever since Lande was sent to Araria on November 22 last year. But many officers claim that the raids have stopped for some “obvious reasons”.

During his stint with the state capital, Lande had carried out over 40 raids at various places and seized fake products — from medicines to cosmetics, from alcohol to sports goods — in huge amounts.

As the city SP, his last raid was on a drug manufacturing company in the Rajiv Nagar area on November 11. He was shifted to Araria as the SP on November 22.

Since then, the city has seen only one raid on a company that was accused of making fake wrappers.

The ebb in the raids, however, does not imply that all fake goods have suddenly vanished from the Patna markets.

“The Patna City area continues to be a hub of counterfeit products. But holding raids is a risky proposition. A lot of technicalities are involved with such raids. Many policemen are also not quite aware of the laws,” said a senior police officer on the condition of anonymity.

“Besides, no police officer now wants to land in trouble for obvious reasons. It’s better to keep quiet,” he added.

Other cops, also, admit that fake products have flooded the markets. “The trade in fake goods is flourishing. But what can the police do? Our primary duty is to look after law and order. We have minimum resources to tackle crime. Under such situations, it is difficult for the police to shift their attention from checking crime to something else,” another officer said.

“Besides, there is the economic offences wing (EOW) with the state police headquarters to carry out such raids,” he added.

Sources at the EOW, which comes under the criminal investigation department, however, did not agree with the officer’s view. “EOW works on limited resources. It is wrong to say that EOW is alone responsible to carry out such raids,” an officer at EOW said.

A police officer, also on condition of anonymity, said: “In the past, representatives of companies used to approach the police with tip-offs on fake products in the market. But since Lande’s transfer, the company representatives are also not approaching the cops.”