Cops had recovered the vehicle three years back
Cops had recovered the vehicle three years back
It should have been a wow moment for Dr. Sumesh Kumar Sharma when a constable informed him that his stolen car was found. But when he reached the police station to collect his twelve-year-old company, he was left gobsmacked. The vehicle stood in a junk yard, completely covered in dust and in ruins. 
Dock it: Vehicles kept at a junk yard near Azadpur in outer Delhi.
"I went to the police station and found my car in a bad state. After checking the records, a constable from the station informed that the car was lying there since February 2008 after it was found abandoned in Kalkaji area," said Sharma.
Sharma, a resident of Shalimar Bagh, had lodged an FIR two years back that his car was stolen. Though the police recovered the four-wheeler within a few days, they did not inform him about it. Things came to the fore only after cops started to clean up the police stations and dispose of the unwanted vehicles in the premises as directed by the Delhi police commissioner B K Gupta. "The police stations need a lot of improvement. I have asked the police stations to clean up the premises to give them a fresh look," Gupta said in November last year.
"Almost three years after the incident, they bothered to inform me. My car is almost turned to scrap now. If the commissioner had not issued such an order, I wouldn't have got my car back. I used it for 12 years and it was in a very good condition at that time."
Sharma also had to pay Rs 1,500 as towing charges of the car.u00a0 "When I visited the station, I was told the vehicle has to be towed to a dumping ground at Mukundpur near Azadpur and I have to bear the cost. But I wasn't given any receipt for that. I had lodged the FIR at Shalimar Bagh police station and it should have been the responsibility of the government to pay the charges. Now the car is parked there. I haven't submitted the papers in the Rohini court yet to claim the vehicle."
A senior police official said: "There are hundred of vehicles lying at police stations. These are 'case properties' and can be disposed off only when the court gives an order. This is one such case where we have missed informing the owner of the vehicle. However in most cases, owners don't turn up to stake claim even after all the formalities are done."
Police files
According to the rules, cops cannot dispose of vehicles lying at the police station without the order of the court. In cases where an accused becomes a proclaimed offender, police has to keep these vehicles for 50 years. In cases related to NDPS Act and heinous crimes, vehicles are not easily released.u00a0After any incident, the vehicles are impounded and become 'case properties'. Subsequently, these vehicles remain in police custody as long as the trial goes on, or till court does not grant permission to release them. In most cases, the owners never turn up to take possession of their vehicles.
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