Jamshedpur, Dec. 25: Those rickety police jeeps are passé. Enter swanky cars — for patrolling and investigating.

These days, some of the more enterprising men in khaki here are chasing criminals in Taveras, Boleros and Tata Sumos. But make no mistake, the Jharkhand police do not have any provision for swanky cars for any police station. The luxury vehicles being used by the policemen are either seized from criminals during operations or are those lying in the police station premises after seizures by finance companies.

At Kadma police station, there’s a cream Tavera that’s been parked. At times, the officer in charge of the police station, sub-inspector Ranjit Roshan, uses it.

The car belongs to one Lucky Saini, a key member of an extortion racket busted on December 5 last year during the tenure of former East Singhbhum superintendent of police Ashish Batra. Roshan declined to comment on why a seized vehicle was being used for police duty. For the record, his predecessor Rajiv Kumar Singh also used it.

A Bolero being used by sub-inspector Parvez Alam of Sidhgora police station is another case in point. This golden coloured, high-end car belonging to a businessman was seized three years ago. But unlike Roshan, Alam was candid enough to explain the advantages of using a luxury car to chase criminals. “It is easier to nab criminals using luxury cars. If we use the official jeep, criminals become alert and manage to flee. But when we travel in a car they are confused about its occupants and eventually get caught,” he said.

Similar cases can be traced at Telco, MGM and Sonari police stations. Barring the seized Tata Sumo being used by the Telco police station, the other seized vehicles do not have registration numbers.

East Singhbhum superintendent of police Naveen Kumar Singh said: “I am not aware of policemen using seized vehicles. This is absolutely unlawful.” He said he would stop the practice immediately even if using luxury car proves more effective in apprehending criminals.

Sources said this trend of the police “graduating to” high-end cars has picked up ever since more and more car finance companies sprang up in the city. Defaulters,too, are on the rise. So while financiers are forced to seize defaulters’ cars with police help, they also allow the men in khaki to use them.