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UP becomes Crime Inc

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

The unholy nexus between politicians and criminals is an open secret in Uttar Pradesh. It has been going on for years and decades. But, perhaps it was never as blatant and open as it is now.

In fact, it was the recent killing of notorious gangster Sri Prakash Shukla, who also figured among India's most wanted criminals, that has opened a Pandora's box of the ever-growing politician-criminal nexus in India's most populous and political most crucial state. Shukla, who had umpteen cases of heinous crimes, including ruthless murders, pending against him, was gunned down after a prolonged hide and seek with the police on September 20, when he was intercepted by the police near the UP-Delhi border.

While the Kalyan Singh-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh was overjoyed at the elimination of a dreaded criminal who had committed scores of murders and kidnappings, what has come as a source of embarrassment was the gangster's links with nearly half a dozen ministers in the Kalyan cabinet. The Special Task Force, created by the UP police to fix top gangsters and to contain organised crime, is understood to have made a mention of these ministers, besides other political figures, in a confidential report submitted to the government on the elimination of Shukla.

Shukla was the 91st listed criminal (carrying a substantial reward), to be gunned down by the police since a concerted anti-crime campaign was launched by the Kalyan government about six months back. "But of course, he was our most prized catch," admits Ajay Raj Sharma, UP's additional director general of police (law and order), who has been masterminding the affairs of STF, his brainchild. Of those on the STF target, Shukla was the sixth to be gunned down since July when this force actually became operational. Says Sharma, "There were at least 90 others with smaller rewards on their heads who had been gunned down since November 1997."

However, Sharma maintains, "Most of the remaining gangs are now on the run, but I am sure, you will hear of these too falling into our net very soon." He is proud of the fact that he did not have to face any kind of political interference in the mission that he has undertaken through the STF comprising his hand-picked team of "honest, daring and committed 48 ace policemen".

While Sharma refused to divulge the names of prominent politicians whose connections with Shukla had been established, he did not deny that the slain gangster did have close links with certain politicians, who had also in turn extended patronage to him from time to time.

Sources, however, maintained that it was Shukla's encounters with politician's that eventually brought about his nemesis. And there is substantial evidence to corroborate this claim. Even as the heat was on over him, Shukla remained undeterred in his mission to establish himself as the undisputed don of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. That was the reason why he ruthlessly finished anyone and everyone who came in his path.

Most of his victims were killed in broad-daylight, in full public view. And those on his target were essentially his rivals in the business of undertaking major government contracts, that are known to be handled solely by notorious criminals. These included eastern UP's one-time don Veerendra Shahi, who not only remained an independent MLA but later also contested the Lok Sabha election from his hometown Gorakhpur.

Shahi's traditional rival Hari Shankar Tiwari, a Congressman turned Loktantrik Congress Party leader and UP's Minister for Science and Technology, was left shell-shocked by this murder and was left wondering who could have accomplished what he could not do for years. Besides Tiwari and Shahi had mended their fences and had agreed not to cross each other's path.

It was at this point of time that Tiwari's lieutenant turned detractor, a minister in the Kalyan ministry, allegedly fell in line with Shukla to settle scores with his mentor. Tiwari suddenly doubled his security no sooner than he came to know of Shukla's association with the rival minister. Shukla took up cudgels with another minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh (holding the portfolio of programme implementation), whose name too figures in police records. Shukla was understood to have warned Singh not to try seeking contracts anywhere outside his (Singh's) home district of Pratapgarh.

Likewise, it was the race for a multi-million rupee contract that led him into a direct conflict with yet another UP minister. Realising the bloodbath which the dispute could lead to, the railway authorities, who had floated the tender for the contract, decided to withdraw the same. But Shukla was stated to have taken a vow to teach the minister a lesson, admitted a police official, who maintains, "Undertaking government contracts in railways, PWD, irrigation and other construction agencies had virtually become the exclusive domain of criminals, often provoking gangwars."

Twentyseven year old Shukla, who had committed at least 26 murders and several kidnappings, was really getting on the police's nerves. But the police really put the heat on the gangster, when a BJP MP from Farrukhabad, Swami Sakshi Maharaj went about declaring that the contract killer had taken a sum of Rs 60 million to eliminate Chief Minister Kalyan Singh. Even as Kalyan vehemently denied any such threat, Sakshi Maharaj's proximity to the chief minister naturally aroused much concern in all circles. The general perception about UP's deteriorating law and order got further reinforced with the impression that if Shukla could dare to threaten the chief minister, then who could be safe in UP.

Interestingly, Shukla was alleged to have been commissioned to knock off the Swami, who is one of the accused in the murder of a former BJP minister Brahm Dutt Dwivedi whose family members swore to avenge the killing. Dwivedi's wife, Prabha, is labour minister in the Kalyan Singh government. Intelligence sources confirmed that the threat was actually made to Sakshi Maharaj, who found it convenient to sound an alert by highlighting the chief minister's name, to ensure that the heat was actually on the dreaded gangster.

The strategy worked. The STF, which is divided into eight six-member teams, made untiring efforts to zero in on Shukla and eventually got him. However, in the bargain, what has been exposed was the blatant criminalisation of politics in Uttar Pradesh.

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