PC Arun Ghir   played by Abhin Galeya

First appearance    New Blood [# 660] (12/06/08)        

PC Arun Ghir joined the police the day after his dad got beaten up by a gang of 15-year-olds after he’d asked them to move away from his car. After two years in the service, Arun took being a cop a tad too seriously. He was full of fighting spirit and chomping at the bit to knock down doors and get a result.

Growing up, he would watch American gangster movies and developed a romanticised view of gangs. Arun couldn’t gel his hair without donning an American accent and reprising the Taxi Driver monologue in front of the mirror. Within five weeks of signing up to London’s biggest gang, Arun was in a police uniform and on the beat. When faced with an insult from the gangs on his estate, for the first time, without any trace of fear or irony he would ask: “Are you talking to me?”

When Arun became involved in a case involving the wife of an illegal immigrant smuggler, he sympathised with her predicament and tipped her off about a police raid. Smithy interviewed Arun only to have his suspicions confirmed; he had lied, hidden CCTV evidence to cover his tracks, and importantly, didn’t see that he had done anything wrong. Arun was immediately suspended from duty pending an inquiry.