NEW DELHI, Oct 2: Several cases of car and car stereo thefts have been reported from the high-profile and top-security area of the Tughlaq Road police station. And, without wanting to be identified, the local police says the increase in such thefts is because a bulk of their manpower is diverted to guarding the Prime Minister's route and very few are left to guard the residential areas.As many as 87 vehicles and 125 car stereos were reported stolen from this area in this year alone, registering over 15 per cent increase from last year. What is more alarming is that the Tughlaq Road police station, whose area of operation includes Race Course Road, Akbar Road, Lodi Garden, Khan Market and Sujan Singh Park, has failed to solve even 10 per cent of these cases.The area policemen plead that they cannot maintain adequate vigilance as they are ``forever busy guarding the Prime Minister and other VVIPs passing through the area.''For instance, a police officer pointed out: ``The Prime Minister will passthrough this area on Thursday evening when he goes to attend a Ramlila function at Subhash Marg. At least 100 policemen will stand guard on his route. We have a total of 100-odd policemen posted in our police station. During that one hour, the entire area is obviously left almost totally unguarded. The constables, head constables, sub-inspectors are all present at various points on the route. Even the Station House Officer and the ACP have to be present.''Policemen complain that whenever a VIP's car is stolen, he first calls up the Police Commissioner instead of reporting the incident at the Tuglaq Road police station. ``When VIPs have their cars stolen, the police commissioner himself calls up. It is terrifying. One gets to know about the case not from the complaint but from very senior police officers,'' a police official of the station said.Little wonder then that the percentage of worked-out car stereo and car theft cases is less than 10 per cent: ``Only when we arrest a gang member, do we succeedin busting a racket. It is then that there is a possibility of recovery of stolen items.''The police station staff also blames the number of pending cases on the shortage of staff. ``We have only 81 constables posted at our police station when the sanctioned strength is 175. We have five sub-inspectors against a sanctioned number of nine. There are only 20 head constables. We are forever calculating how many policemen we could spare from one VIP route and deploy on another,'' the police official added.
