Patna, April 12: To net absconders, police have reverted to “musical” path devised by the British Raj. And the success rate is encouraging to say the least. One hundred absconders are in the net in merely four days!

The strategy is simple. The cops go to the residential addresses of the absconders and beat drums aloud to draw the attention of the residents of the entire locality. The crime details of the person are read aloud once a moderate crowd gathers at the site.

The past two days saw around 10 men surrendering in local courts, ostensibly in fear of social stigma.

The police said the Britons used the strategy earlier for the same reason, which is listed in the police manual too.

The senior superintendent of police (SSP), Patna, Alok Kumar told The Telegraph that the initiative was launched last week and had borne excellent results so far. Over 100 absconders are behind the bars in four days, he said.

“It was unexpected. Over the past two days five persons, residents of areas under Rania Talab and Sigauri police stations in rural Patna, have surrendered in courts after our teams went to their localities to play the drums and announce in public the list of charges that they face,” the officer said.

Till now, the police have beaten drums and made public announcements in front of residences of around 950 absconders.

“There are more than 2,000 absconders in Patna. They are wanted in different cases for years. The plan of action is simple. Each police station has been instructed to compile a list of absconders in their records at first. Then, the police personnel engage members of bands who can first play the drum aloud in front of the absconders’ residences. Once a sizeable crowd gathers, a policeman reads aloud the name of the person, his family background, what crime he has committed and the date from which he has been absconding,” the SSP said.

For many absconders, the social stigma and criticism is a bit too much to handle. “The encouraging thing is that many absconders have surrendered for fear of social boycott. But in most cases, members of the public or neighbours have given leads to the police after learning the antecedents of such persons. For example, the initiative led to the arrest of an absconder in the Kadamkuan area, who changed his residential address. A local resident informed us about the same,” the officer said.

The officer said that the drive would continue.

“It is bearing positive results. The police will continue with the strategy. The drum players engaged in the drive are being adequately paid for their services. The drive proves the public, too, stands by the law enforcers when it comes to effective crime control,” he said. Police sources said the drive threw up different results in some places. “In a certain area, once the drums were beaten, children began to dance in merriment and some of the policemen joined in. There needs to be proper control over the drive, as the programme is being monitored,” the sources added.