Police Informers or Khabaris

Police Informers or Khabaris, as they are generally called locally, are those private people who pass on sensitive information to the authorities, which eventually leads to tracking down the accused persons or gives a clue about the crime, thus giving a breakthrough to the investigating authorities.

The informers play a very vital role in the investigation process. There are two kinds of informers, viz. Police Informers and the Informers of Revenue Departments.

Now let us first look at the Police informers. They are generally small-time criminals like pickpockets or former criminals who are in the know of the goings-on in active criminal gangs. Pickpockets have an advantage because they are close observers and move around actively among the general public. A good Police Officer should have the knack for developing his or her circle of reliable informers. The benefits that such informers get are many. They generally boast of their proximity to Police Officers and they get somewhat lighter punishment when caught in petty offenses, or the Police Officer tries to settle the matter by negotiating between these criminals and the complainant, without registering a formal complaint. Many times, when the information given by these Khabaris leads to solving a very big crime, the Police Officers also reward them monetarily, for which there is a SS Fund (Secret Service Fund) with the Police Department. This SS Fund must be approved by a Police Officer not lower than the rank of a Deputy Police Commissioner or a Supdt. Of Police.

However, there have been innumerable cases where relying on Police Informers has proved dear to the Police. When these Khabaris work closely with the Police, they learn about the style of Investigation and everything associated with the working of the Police Department. They then use this knowledge to indulge in criminal activities themselves and then dodge the Police. There have also been instances of such Khabaris giving false leads, only to use the presence of the Police to intimidate their adversaries. A celebrated Assistant Commissioner of Police of the Social Service Branch (SS Branch) of the Mumbai Police used to rely more on his informers than his subordinates, to go as decoy customers to Bars and prostitution dens, as he did not trust his subordinates, for fear of the news getting leaked. But then it turned out that these Khabaris used to intimidate bar owners and extort money from them.

In the case of informers of Revenue Departments like Income Tax, Customs, or NCB, generally, they are professional informers and they get a reward of 20% of the value of the contraband seized, provided their information leads to seizure of the same. There are many such professional informers, as it is very lucrative because generally the seizures of the Revenue Department run into crores, and 20% of the same is very attractive for them to bring in more such information. However, the reward money is disbursed only after all the paperwork is completed. The easiest information that these professional informers tend to give is about the evasion of Income Tax. If they find someone living a lavish life, owning huge apartments and luxury cars, which are way beyond their known sources of income, a mere tip-off of the registration number of their car is enough for the Tax authorities to pursue their money trail which will lead to their bank accounts.

All in all, the role of these informers helps the authorities immensely to crack criminal cases or evasion of taxes.