Delhi Police has allocated a budget of ₹205 crore in the upcoming year for rewards to informants who provide leads about wanted criminals, missing persons, and dead body identification.
“The motive is to make the police system work with the society in cracking important cases,” a Crime Branch officer said.
“In the last three [financial] years [2022-2023, 2021-2022, 2020-2021], the minimum reward declared has been ₹5,000 and the maximum has been ₹2 lakh,” another officer said. “Rewards on criminals have changed over time. We generally end up paying out ₹25,000. It’s an incentive for people from the community to work with us, and make the city safer for all,” he added.
Explaining an arrest in February, the police gave details about the case of Salman alias Suleman, 24. He had been accused of stone pelting and of conspiring in the Jahangirpuri riots which took place in April last year. A resident of the area tipped the police off, and Suleman was arrested from Mahendra Park in north-west Delhi. When the investigation was complete, the police gave away a ₹25,000 cash reward for information on the accused.
The officer explained that there are several reasons behind sharing tip-offs with the police. “In most cases, informants are from rival gangs, or their own gang-member-turned-rival, or a family-member-turned-rival,” he added. For instance, Ankit Gulia, a member of the Jitender Gogi-Deepak Boxer gang wanted in nine heinous cases, was caught in February this year based on a tip-off from his own gang.
“We also deploy local informants in and around the areas where a criminal is said to be located. Everything is done for the safety of informants, and they remain anonymous,” the officer said. The police use newspapers to inform the city about wanted criminals, with the hopes that citizens will alert them if and when they “notice suspicious activities”.
In case of heinous offences that are sensitive and where leads are nowhere to be found, rewards are increased after 3-6 months. After a court has declared an accused a proclaimed offender, i.e. accused who is absconding, a reward of ₹10,000 is announced for leads of their whereabouts.
