THE Dabangg Officer

Young and beefy, normally sporting tight black tees, snug blue jeans and stylish tinted shades (he often wears them even at night when on duty), Shivdeep Waman Lande cuts an impressive figure. The 2010 batch IPS officer who until recently was the Patna city superintendent of police had won over a huge fan following owing to his real-life heroics. He ruled Patna with an iron grip for all of nine months – and each day of those months was a literal lights-camera-action day. He was either rounding up crooks dealing in fake cosmetics, taking on the medicine mafia or saving damsels in distress.

The dames in Patna fell in love with him for his gallant intimidation of those roadside Romeos. There was a marked decrease in eve teasing in Patna city during his tenure. College girls could call him anytime on his cell phone and complain about eve-teasers. So when he was suddenly transferred to Bihar’s Araria district in November last year, all hell broke loose. There were loud whispers of conspiracy theories and many youngsters took to the streets protesting the reassignment of their favourite cop.

One would have thought that away from the media glare in the capital city, Lande’s passions would have cooled. But no, this cop is as ardent as ever. He tells TSI: “Here, a few politicians started to intervene in my day-to-day policing. But, I did not care. Now they have tested me. They have stopped interfering. All policemen are not corrupt. It depends upon whether you follow the path of politicians or the process of law.”

True to his words, his exploits in Araria are something to write home about. Amidst a torrent of complaints about misuse of MNREGA funds, Lande and team raided the premises of the Karghair panchayat in the Narpatganj block here and uncovered a huge MNREGA scam. About a thousand BPL people were issued job cards under the scheme, but were not given jobs. “The funds were siphoned off,” he asserts. Lande says that he is also working doubly hard to erase cross border smuggling, including human trafficking in this district which borders Nepal.

An engineering graduate and fitness freak, Lande continues to be a soft touch as far as damsels in distress are concerned. Just last month, the Dabangg SP became guardian once again when he brokered truce between an unwed mother and her errant boyfriend, who had ditched her. He not only helped smoothen the differences between the boy and girl's families but also got their marriage solemnised in his presence. “I am not against criminals but against circumstances which make criminals,” says Bihar’s Chulbul Pandey.