Delhi Police has allocated a budget of Rs 205 crore in the coming year for rewards to informers providing clues regarding the identity of wanted criminals, missing persons and dead bodies.
“The police system aims to work with the society in solving important cases,” said a Crime Branch official.
in the last three [financial] Year [2022-2023, 2021-2022, 2020-2021]Another official said, the minimum reward announced has been kept at Rs 5,000 and the maximum at Rs 2 lakh. “Rewards on criminals have changed over time. We usually pay ₹25,000. It’s an incentive for people in the community to work with us and make the city safer for all.”
Explaining an arrest in February, police gave details about the case of 24-year-old Salman alias Suleman. He was accused of stone pelting and conspiracy in the Jahangirpuri riots in April last year. A resident of the area informed the police and Suleman was arrested from Mahendra Park in North-West Delhi. When the investigation was complete, the police offered a cash reward of Rs 25,000 for information on the accused.
The officer said that there are many reasons behind sharing secret information with the police. “In most cases, the informants are from rival gangs, or their own gang-member-rival, or family-member-rival,” he said. For example, Ankit Gulia, a member of the Jitender Gogi-Deepak Boxer gang, wanted in nine heinous cases, was caught in February this year on the basis of a tip-off from his own gang.
“We also deploy local informers in and around the areas where a criminal is located. Everything is done to protect the informers, and they remain anonymous,” said the official. Police use newspapers to inform the city about wanted criminals, with the hope that citizens will alert them if they “notice suspicious activity”.
In case of heinous crimes which are sensitive and where leads are not available, the rewards are increased after 3-6 months. After an accused is declared a proclaimed offender by a court, i.e. an absconding accused, a reward of ₹ 10,000 is announced to trace his whereabouts.