Florist's sting op lands MCD officials, cops in jail

STINGING JUSTICE: Tiwari was tired of being touched for bribes by MCD officials and cops.

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New Delhi: A florist in the Capital was so tired of being touched for a bribe, he decided to do something special. His homegrown sting operation put more than 15 corrupt officers behind bars.

It was Shiv Kumar Tiwari's - a florist in Delhi's Connaught Place - complaint to the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Delhi government that started a sting operation after he became a victim of extortion by MCD Inspectors.

"My other option was to shut shop. The officials were hounding me with threats," says Tiwari.

Tiwari - with the help of the Anti-Corruption Bureau - installed a hidden camera in his shop and captured the inspectors asking for money on tape.

Based on the evidence from Tiwari's tapes, the Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested 15 people on Monday, including an Assistant Commissioner and an engineer with the Labour Department, nine inspectors in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and three Delhi Police constables. These men have been taking money from shopkeepers.

The brain behind the operation, Additional CP Anti-Corruption Bureau, N Dilip Kumar, says the trick is to marry technology and policing to counter crime.

"We are just using technology to supplement evidence in these cases," said Kumar.

In the last six months, Kumar has overseen more than 20 sting operations leading to 60 arrests, but Monday's raids have so far been the most successful.

Even as the debate about the utility and the ethics of the sting operation as a tool in the hands of the media continues, Tiwari has used the sting as an effective tool to fight a system of corruption and deceit.