Ranchi, March 6: A word of caution for the candidates in fray for the forthcoming civic elections in the state capital.

About 200 Friends of Police (FoP) of Ranchi police would keep tabs on the activities of the candidates and their supporters in various wards. Late last year, the Ranchi police had decided to rope in civilians as FoPs to keep tabs in each locality.

It had invited applications from volunteers and received an overwhelming response. The police adopted the idea to prevent subversive elements from taking shelter or carrying out illegal activities in the city.

Ranchi would be the first district in the state where FoPs would take shape to strengthen the district police. Of late, the Ranchi police have arrested quite a few Maoist leaders from various parts of the city.

During interrogation, the police learnt that some of these leaders have their own residences in the city, where their families resided.

And these rebels frequented their homes at regular intervals.

“We have received over 300 applications for FoPs so far. And all police stations in the city are at present vetting the applications that they have received. We would select about 200 FoPs and provide them with identity cards on March 16,” senior superintendent of police M.S. Bhatia told The Telegraph.

The police were pleasantly surprised to receive appli-cants even from women and students.

“It shows that the common people are ready to help us out in making the city a safer place to live in. We would exercise utmost caution in verifying the background of each of the applicants before distributing the identity cards,” said Bhatia.

“Not all candidates, who are contesting the polls, have blemishless backgrounds. These candidates can try to create problems for their opponents to win the polls. So, these FoPs would be our eyes and ears in each ward to prevent controversies or any untoward incident,” he added.