Cracking an al-Qaeda module, busting a spy ring backed by ISI and blowing the lid off an espionage racket purloining secret papers from Oil Ministry were some of the major breakthroughs for Delhi Police this year even as it was at the centre of a political storm in the wake of a "raid" on a canteen at Kerala House here.
There were confrontations between police and AAP government on a range of issues as it arrested five MLAs belonging to the party on several charges evoking strong reaction from the ruling dispensation in the city.
The probe into mysterious death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of former Union minister Shashi Tharoor, who was found dead at a 5-star hotel on January 17 last year, remained a mystery despite a case of murder being registered in connection with it.
Pushkar's viscera samples were sent to FBI's lab in the US, but the report - which is now again being analysed by a medical board here - did not clear the air, even as conspiracy theories continued to fly thick and fast.
Five Aam Aadmi Party MLAs - Jitender Singh Tomar (then law minister), Manoj Kumar, Commando Surender Singh, Somnath Bharti and Akhilesh Tripathi - were arrested in separate cases under charges that ranged from forgery and cheating to domestic violence, attempt to murder and provisions of the SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act.
While Bharti was arrested for allegedly assaulting and trying to kill his wife Lipika Mitra, former law minister Tomar was arrested on charges of cheating and forging degrees pertaining to his education qualification.
The tussle between Delhi Police and the AAP government kept taking turns. The AAP had strongly opposed appointment of M K Meena, Joint Commissioner of Police as the chief of the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB). The party even accused Delhi Police to be the "most corrupt" on the basis of a survey.
The row intensified with the AAP government alleging Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi of corruption in connection with his membership at a housing society and procurement of apartments - one of which Bassi had sold to his brother.
While the ACB did not flinch in initiating probes against even the seniormost government officials in connection with alleged "scams" that ranged from CNG fitness certification to procurement of onions, the top cop sparred back countering allegations one after another.
Cases of sexual assault on women and children continued
to witness a rise with records revealing that as many as 1,856 rape cases were reported till October 31 and in 824 of them, the victims are reported to be below 18 years. In 2014, 2,166 rape cases were reported, in which 1,004 pertained to minors.
A number of cases of rapes of minors triggered outrage against police. There were protests following rape of a four-year-old girl at northwest Delhi's Keshav Puram area. Rape of two other minors - aged two and seven years - at east Delhi's Anand Vihar and west Delhi's Nihal Vihar in October led to criticism against police.
In February, with the arrest of 13 persons - including five corporate executives, a scribe and an energy consultant - Delhi Police's Crime Branch cracked open an espionage network which allegedly stole secret documents from offices, including that of the Oil and Petroleum Ministry.
The force was severely attacked by Opposition parties after a police team inspected the Kerala House canteen on October 26 following a complaint that beef was being served there.
Most of the Opposition parties as well as Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy condemned the action saying the "raid" at the state guest house was an attack on federal structure of the country.
Delhi Police later arrested Hindu Sena leader Vishnu Gupta, who was the complainant in the case, along with his aide, on being instructed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who also directed police chief B S Bassi to "be careful while acting out on such complaints in future".
In April, Delhi Police's Special Cell tracked down wanted gangster Neeraj Bawana, while his maternal uncle, former Independent MLA from Mundka Rambir Shokeen, now declared proclaimed offender by a court, continues to be at large.
The murder of former Najafgarh MLA Bharat Singh outside a private function on March 29 also kept the sleuths on their toes. Six persons were arrested by the Crime Branch within a fortnight in the case.
The ones whom the Crime Branch could not track down, later killed an eyewitness, Singh's driver.
In June, Delhi Police cracked open three modules allegedly involved in arranging school admissions under quota reserved for people from economically weaker sections and arrested 10 people under three separate cases.
