Lucknow : With Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath initiating a crackdown on the mafia, the Uttar Pradesh Police issued a list proclaiming the names of kingpins of 66 criminal gangs, and top officials say multiple teams are on the ground looking for the absconding accused as well as keeping an eye on those on bail.
Three of the mentioned mafia members have been slain: Anil Dujana and Aditya Rana alias Ravi were killed in police encounters, while Atiq Ahmad was assassinated in Prayagraj by assailants acting as journalists. Atiq Ahmad’s brother Ashraf, whose name did not appear on the list, was also killed in the shooting. Among the remaining 63 names on the list, five are missing, 20 are out on bail, and 38 are lodged in various jails.
According to senior police officers, the government is keeping an eye on them. Our teams are on the lookout for the criminals, and if they fire at the police instead of surrendering, they will definitely face retaliation, a police officer stated.
Prashant Kumar, Special Director General of Police (Law and Order), said, The police are keeping an eye on everyone. Nobody shall be permitted to mess with the state’s law and order.
He stated that various teams have been organised to apprehend the mafia members who are on the run. The police are closely monitoring the activities of the mafia members who are on bail. The police conduct verification on a regular basis.
The mafia list was made public only weeks after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath pledged to take tough measures against such groups in the state. Mafiaaon ko mitti me mila denge (will reduce the mafia to dust, he had thundered in the state legislature during a heated dispute with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav over the subject of Atiq Ahmad, who was then imprisoned in Gujarat.
Anil Dujana, a criminal whose reputation had instilled dread throughout the districts of the National Capital Region for two decades, was slain in Merrut on May 4 in an encounter with the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force. On Thursday afternoon, our team surrounded Anil Dujana, a wanted criminal, in a village in Meerut. Dujana fired at our team to escape and was killed in retaliatory firing, said Amitabh Yash, Additional Director General of UP STF.
Anil, who used his village name as his surname, was charged with almost 60 crimes, including murder and extortion. He was assassinated barely two weeks after mafia-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were shot dead at point-blank range by three persons as the two brothers alighted a police vehicle and proceeded towards a hospital, arrested and accompanied by cops, about 10 p.m. in Prayagraj.
The Special Task Force fired killed Aditya Rana alias Ravi, who had escaped from police custody, on April 12. According to Additional Director General of Police (ADG) STF Amitabh Yash, police are seeking for convicts who have been deemed absconding as part of a special campaign.
During their campaign for urban local body elections, Chief Minister Adityanath and state ministers are accusing opposition parties of harbouring such criminals. BJP ki ek hi yukti, pradesh ko dilai mafia se mukti (BJP has just one solution: get rid of the mafia in the state). Due to the government’s zero tolerance for crime, the mafia is appealing for compassion in order to live normal lives and earn a living via honest methods, Adityanath said during a vote rally in Rae Bareli. Criminals in Uttar Pradesh used to stroll around with their heads held high, but now they hold posters around their necks begging for their lives, according to him.
He also poked fun at earlier regimes, claiming that persons linked with a certain party used to brandish country-made firearms, but these are no longer visible, and youths now work on iPhones and tablets.
Baddan Singh Baddo, one of the mentioned mafia members, has been missing for the past four years. He escaped when the police group transporting him back to Farrukhabad prison following a court appearance in Ghaziabad stopped at a Meerut cafe. All of the cops supposedly became intoxicated, and he took advantage of the situation. The authorities have yet to apprehend Baddo, who is wanted for murder, loot, and ransom.
Manoj Aase, an absconding mafia member, was apprehended last week in Gautam Budh Nagar following an encounter. During the exchange of fire, he was also hurt. Haji Iqbal alias Bala, a former BSP MLC and Saharanpur mining mafia member, is also on the run, and the police have issued a monetary reward of ₹1 lakh for his capture. His brother and sons are also in prison.
Jugnu Walia alias Harvinder Singh (of Lucknow), who is affiliated with Mukhtar Ansari’s gang, Meerut-based Vinay Tyagi, and Prayagraj-based Javed alias Pappu are also on the list.
Ajay Pratap Singh alias Ajay Sipahi of Ambedkarnagar, Sushil Mooch of Muzaffarnagar, Anoop Singh and Pradeep Singh of Pratapgarh, Sudhir Singh, Rakesh Yadav and Vinod Upadhyay of Gorakhpur, Saud Akhtar of Kanpur, Bachu Yadav of Lucknow, Rajesh Yadav, Kamrul Hasan and Jabir Hussain of Prayagraj are out on bail.
Brijesh Singh (Varanasi) and Sanjeev Dwivedi alias Ramu Dwivedi (Deoria) are also on bail.
Former MLA Mukhtar Ansari, former MP Rizwan Zaheer, Tribhuvan Singh, Amit Kasana, Sundar Bhati, and Subhash Thakur are among those imprisoned.
Officials claimed that the mafia used to operate its network from within jails, but their clout has been shattered following the state government’s crackdown on the mafia’s relationship with jail personnel. In various situations, including the unlawful contact between Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas and his wife in Chitrakoot jail, where Abbas was held, and Ashraf’s meeting with persons in Bareilly jail, action has been taken against jail authorities, personnel, and criminals.