CBI takes help of town criers to force accused to surrender

Use of drummers as town criers by the CBI in Bihar is working wonders as it has forced as many as 18 absconders, facing various charges, to surrender in last one month.
The CBI employs drummers who beat their instruments and announce names of absconders in various cases along with their offences in the area of their residence or at their native places asking them to surrender.
"Section 82 of the Criminal Procedure Code gives the police the power to use various means to make public announcements. We chose to use drums and town criers for the purpose, and it is working wonders here," said V K Singh, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) CBI Patna.

The offenders first ignore it, but the repercussions of the drumbeats were so powerful that sooner or later they give themselves up.
The novel method has been so successful that 18 odd accused facing various charges have surrendered during the last one month. Five others were arrested after being pointed out by their neighbours, CBI officials said.
"Most of the accused in our cases are public servants or people of repute in the society. They and their family members find the drumbeats humiliating and think it is wise to surrender," the DIG said.

The agency officials said the first success after using this method came when en employee of a nationalised bank, accused in a Disproportionate Assets case, surrendered.

"We will just use it more and more for our purpose. It is like a psychological weapon. The bigger the absconder, the harder he is hit," Singh said with a smile.
The drummers are hired locally or from traditional music bands that perform at weddings. CBI officials dealing with the case take them to the localities where the absconders have their houses or to their native places.
CBI officials said a railway engineer was arrested from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh after people living in his area tipped off about his whereabouts. A railway inspector and a person allegedly involved in the banking recruitment examination scam surrendered.

At times, some people were unaware that they have been accused in CBI cases and the public announcements come in handy in enlightening them.
Singh said the recently inserted section 174 (A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has made absconding in criminal cases a punishable offence. Public announcements are a must in such cases to get the accused declared as 'absconders' and sentenced by the court.