Nagpur: In a disturbing incident, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) of Nagpur City doled out false information and tried to mislead while providing a reply under Right to Information Act. The applicant has lodged a strong complaint with Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) and State Police Complaints Redressal Authority, Mumbai, and demanded stern action against the ACP who is posted as Public Relations Officer (PRO) in city.
According to details, the Khaparkheda-based RTI activist Shekhar Kolte had submitted an appliaction to the office of Commissioner of Police, Nagpur City, under RTI Act 2005. Accordingly, the city police had sought all documents regarding a complaint against a resident staying under Kotwali Police Station jurisdiction. Subsequently, after receiving all the information and documents, the office of Commissioner of Police had forwarded the same to ACP and PRO, Sakkardara Division holding additional charge of Kotwali Division. Accordingly, the ACP-PRO provided all information to the applicant Shekhar Kolte.
False information:
Providing the information as sought by the applicant, ACP-PRO, in his reply, said that no complaint was lodged against the concerned resident and hence there was no question of action. On perusal, it came to the fore that a woman had lodged two complaints against the concerned resident in 2016. The original copy of the complaint was procured by the RTI activist Kolte. After it became clear that the ACP-PRO provided false and misleading information, Kolte filed First Appeal Information Officer to the office of Commissioner of Police but the Officer did not hold any hearing on the application. Hence Kolte has submitted a Second Appeal application to State Information Commission, Nagpur Bench for further action.
Documents stolen or lost?
According to information provided by ACP-PRO, it has become clear that the copy of the complaint and records have either been stolen or lost due to carelessness on the part of concerned Kotwali Police Station officials.
