By Atul Krishan

New Delhi, Apr 26 (IANS): A new circular issued by the Delhi Police Headquarters mentions that the Sub Inspector (SI) level police officers have been asked to appear before the court in the absence of an Investigation Officer (IO), and not to tell the court that they were not the "actual IO".

"There may be instances where the concerned IO has retired, expired or is otherwise unavailable. In all such cases, the SI who would be assigned the case file, shall attend the court on the due date of hearing. It shall be obligatory upon the SHOs and Inspectors (Investigation) to ensure that the assignee IO gets adequately briefed about the matter so that he can in turn brief the Ld. ASC/APP before the Court proceedings and can also answer any question that the Court may like to pose to him during the hearing," the Delhi Police HQ order, accessed by IANS, reads.

It further reads that if it is reported by the court that the assignee SI informs the Court that 'he was not the IO or was unaware of the matter', the DCP shall issue a show cause notice for Censure to SI, and two senior Inspectors.

According to a source in the know of things, Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora has asked all the SHOs to ensure that they make available a new SI to represent the cases before the court as an IO in the absence of the actual IO.

The notice also has a warning that action may be taken against the IO (appearing before the court on behalf of the actual IO), if he reveals that he is not the actual IO and is unaware of the matter.