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NEW DELHI: Two recent cases where the accused servants were traced and nabbed by cops have once again highlighted — what police has emphasized time and again — the importance of complete servant verification.

'' Whether it was this Kirti Nagar case where a servant murdered his 82-year-old employer or the recent Rs 1 crore heist by a servant at Greater Kailash I, we had the benefit of a headstart as we knew exactly where to look for the accused. A photo of the accused is an added bonus for us as all neighbouring states' police along with the accused's home district can then be alerted with specific details,'' said O P Mishra, DCP (southeast).

V Renganathan, DCP (west) further said that police can also '' look'' for definite clues once an accused's identity is ascertained . '' It helps us to put an accused in a certain milieu and then we know the kind of places where we need to search for them,'' said a senior officer from the crime branch.

Cops say residents have now realised the importance of getting their servants verified. '' This year alone, we have registered 25,300 servants. Now, almost 70 per cent of houses have got their servants verified compared to a mere 45 per cent in 2008,''said a police officer.

According to police records, of the 4 lakh households surveyed so far, almost 60,000 homes have employed a servant. Of these, several households are yet to provide basic information about their servants.

'' Many families in Delhi employ children as domestic help. They fear that if they reveal the details about age, etc, they may face charges under the relevant act. Hence, even after our repeated requests to submit details online, the results have not been too encouraging,'' said a senior police officer.

Delhi police has now set up camps in several districts in order to complete the verification process.'' Our beat constables are going from house to house to check if households employing servants have got them verified. Wherever the employee could not submit photos of their servants, we have arranged for the same,'' said additional DCP Rajan Bhagat.

According to senior officials, all the filled-up forms are being forwarded to the district DCP office. '' We are then forwarding it to the various SSPs of the servants' home districts. We are doing this in bunches of 15-20 applications each. Hence, it would take some time to finish the process,'' added a senior official.

Officers added that the bulk of these verifications will be completed from the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal.'' We cannot verify the antecedents of servants coming from other countries like Bangladesh or Nepal. Hence, we advise employers not to hire people from these countries as domestic help,'' said a senior officer.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Cops-say-servant-verification-vital/articleshow/7080882.cms