Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry

The violent death of Rajbir Singh, Delhi Police’s much decorated police officer, threw the spotlight once again on India’s Dirty Harrys who lived by the gun, earned their fame and notoriety through it and, as in Rajbir’s case, died by it.

With over 50 extra-judicial killings of suspected criminals under his belt, Singh, 48, who was murdered last week by a man said to be his friend of 20 years, earned the reputation in the last decade for taking on the “dirtiest” cases and resolving them - even if it involved the violation of the suspects’ basic human rights.

Dirty Harry was a Hollywood movie on Inspector Harry Callahan (played by Clint Eastwood). Callahan’s nickname, “Dirty Harry”, was a reference to his reputation for taking on the “dirtiest” cases and resolving them even if it involved the violation of criminals’ rights.

In Indian lexicon, these were called “encounter specialists”, police sharpshooters who bumped off their criminal adversaries without legal sanction after making their ‘encounters’ with them look like shootouts.

Singh, Delhi Police’s “encounter specialist”, has also been accused of hiring out his services for builders and landlords and his brutal death proved his dangerous liaison with the latter. His first brush with fame came in 1994 with the arrest of notorious and most dreaded criminal Virendra Jatta from Haryana, following which he was promoted to the rank of inspector.  The next big ticket targets were gangsters Rajbir Ramola and his accomplice Inder Pal Singh in March 1995. Ramola was accused in over 40 cases of murder, robbery, extortion and kidnapping.

A few years later Singh won more laurels for killing a rewarded criminal Ranpal Gujjar in Faridabad. The shoot-out brought another out-of-turn promotion for Singh, who joined Delhi Police in 1982 as a sub inspector.

The controversial cop killed at least 38 ultras and hard-core criminals in Delhi and its adjoining areas.

Gujarat’s Vanjhara, a man who rose up the ranks, is alleged to have amassed millions of dollars worth of assets amounting to including bungalows and hotels in and around Gandhinagar.

“It is clear that some policemen are increasingly functioning as the personal assassins of politicians. The cops are sometimes pressurized to carry out such orders in lieu of personal benefits,” said a senior police officer

“The alleged encounter specialists deliberately choose to come closer to politicians for better postings and perks. The current system provides power to these ministers to transfer officials anywhere in the state. ”