A tough cop who landed in trouble
THE CASE OF MISSING ₹6.65 CR HAS PUT ON STAKE REPUTATION AND CAREER OF IPS OFFICER WHO PLANNED AND MONITORED RAID ON PRIEST’S HOUSE
CHANDIGARH: The case of missing Rs 6.65 crore after the recovery of unaccounted cash during a raid on the house of Jalandhar priest Father Anthony, which caused huge embarrassment to the Punjab Police, has put on stake the reputation and career of young IPS officer Dhruv Dahiya, who planned and monitored the entire operation as Khanna senior superintendent of police (SSP).
Before getting embroiled in this controversy, 2012-batch officer Dahiya, 33, had earned a reputation of being a tough and blunt officer having the guts ‘to call a spade a spade’ without succumbing to any political pressure.
Within months of his first posting as ASP (traffic) Ludhiana, Dahiya shot into limelight when he challanned the official vehicle of a judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court for wrong parking.
He was asked to bite the bullet when he had to cancel the challan after senior police officials intervened.
A then Adgp-rank officer, who retired as DGP, even had castigated him at the police headquarters for this act in front of other senior officials, barely a week after he was transferred as ASP (Dasuya) in Hoshiarpur.
But here too, Dahiya did not change his style. He came in direct confrontation with civil officers after he challaned official vehicles of forest officials and regional transport authorities.
He also challaned an Orbit bus owned by the Badals, who were in power at that time, after its driver failed to show the registration certificate and other documents of the vehicle. Dahiya ordered to impound the bus and it was released only after getting original documents.
Before his posting as SSP Khanna, Dahiya was posted in Special Protection Unit (SPU) that guards the chief minister of Punjab. There he got the attention of some senior government functionaries and was posted as SSP, Khanna.
MIXED IMAGE
An MSC in econometrics and mathematical economics from the London School of Economics, Dahiya has a mixed image in the police.
Some officers describe him as an “upright and a bright officer” whereas others dub him as “high-headed”, “unpredictable” and “media-savvy”.
Senior officials who have worked with Dahiya term him a “cynical” officer who would not trust his team easily.
Officials privy to the probe into the missing money case blame Dahiya’s “poor planning and lack of confidence in his own team” for the embarrassment caused to the police.
“There are reports that a tipoff about the huge stock of unaccounted money with the priest was received by a DSP who informed the SSP about it. However, the SSP entrusted the task of conducting the raid to another DSP, who included in the raiding team the two ASIS from Patiala, who are now missing and have allegedly siphoned off the money,” a senior official said.
He said the second “blunder” the SSP made was the claim that the seizure was made from a special naka at Doraha in their jurisdiction in Khanna, which fell flat the next day.
“As an IPS officer, he should have been aware that in the modern era when the location of any person can be traced within a minute, the bluff made about the seizure could land him in trouble. He relied on Asi-rank officials, didn’t send any gazetted officer for the raid and made glaring procedural lapses. It was the SSP’S jingoism which has landed him in trouble,” another official said.