Lucknow: No surveillance devices, no computers and cops who were scared of using a mouse in fear of being electrocuted — that is what retired IPS officer Rajesh Pandey remembers about the special task force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh (UP) Police when it was set up in 1998. The unit has come a long way since, added Pandey, who had been a member of the original team.
The STF, which completed 25 years Thursday, shot dead ‘gangster’ Anil Dujana the same day, in what is believed to be the unit’s 184th encounter killing since Yogi Adityanath took oath as the UP Chief Minister in 2017, with the killings of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed’s son Asad and his accomplice last month being encounter number 183.
Dujana, an accused in 64 criminal cases, was reportedly known to have terrorised people in Noida, Ghaziabad and other parts of the National Capital Region (NCR). While the STF has said he was killed in an encounter in Meerut, Dujana’s lawyer told ThePrint Thursday that he had been picked up outside Delhi’s Karkardooma court.
Talking about the setting up of the STF, Pandey claimed it had been set up on a “temporary basis”, with only Rs 5,000 for equipment for telephonic surveillance. The primary aim was to tackle former dreaded ‘gangster’ Shri Prakash Shukla, he added.
Shukla was killed in an encounter by the STF the same year it was set up.
“In the 1990s, crime across north India, and especially in UP, was at its peak and many of the gangsters of that time subsequently entered the world of politics. In order to tackle several of the dreaded criminals that time, the then Kalyan Singh government constituted the UP STF with 17 officers and Shri Prakash Shukla was its main target. He had gone on a rampage that time,” Pandey added.
The retired cop also spoke of Ayodhya-based contractor Santosh Singh’s alleged murder in 1998, claiming it had been orchestrated by Dhananjay Singh, now a Janata Dal (United) member, and Guddu Muslim, an alleged Ahmed aide.
While the STF is reportedly on the lookout for Muslim in relation to other cases, Singh has denied the allegations.
‘Temporary unit, formed for 6 months’
It was following rumours of Shukla having accepted a “supari (contract)” to kill then UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, that the STF was set up, recalled Pandey.
“As far as I know, Shukla was the first person in UP to have used an AK-47. He [allegedly] killed then Bihar minister Brij Bihari Prasad in Patna,” he added.
Citing a book written by the first chief of the UP STF, Ajai Raj Sharma, Biting The Bullet: Memoirs of a Police Officer, in which he had mentioned the setting up of the unit, Pandey said “When the CM first called him [Sharma, in connection with forming the STF], he (the CM) was upset. He directed a small unit be set up under the supervision of Sharma. Initially, three-four persons were deployed, including IPS officers Arun Kumar, Satyandra Veer Singh and myself, a few drivers, one sub-inspector, and 10-12 constables.”
Such was the scare created by Shukla, that the STF was formed in a matter of 15-20 days, “on a temporary basis for six months”, Pandey claimed, adding that the main target of the unit at the time was eliminating the ‘gangster’.
“There was no surveillance [device], not a single computer and the cops were scared of even holding a mouse as they feared electrocution,” Pandey said.
He added: “A computer institute owner was roped in to teach the police officers how to use a computer. There were hundreds of gangs and organised mafias [at the time], several involved in kidnapping. The main target was Shukla and the unit was formed for six months only on a temporary basis. Some [alleged] criminals associated with arms smuggling, making fake Indian currency notes and some rewardee criminals [those who carried rewards on their heads] were also on the STF’s list”.
According to the retired cop, the UP STF was made permanent after it successfully eliminated dreaded ‘gangsters’ like Shukla.
‘Used actor Sunil Shetty’s image to produce Shukla’s photo’
Talking about how the STF went about getting their primary target back then, Pandey said the unit was struggling to procure a single image of Shukla’s to identify him.
“Shukla was a sadist. To him, one bullet was enough for the work (murder), but he thought that if he shot plenty [repeatedly], it would create a scare and people would easily pay the extortion money,” he claimed.
Pandey added: “Shukla had killed a [photo] studio owner in Gorakhpur who had tried to get his photo at the behest of his advisories. We found his image in photos from his niece’s birthday party, where he had been present.”
Recalling how difficult the ‘gangster’ had made it for him to be identified, the retired IPS officer said, “His [Shukla’s] brother-in-law cried profusely and said his entire family would be killed if Shukla gets to know [that the police had the birthday party photos].”
In order to protect their source (Shukla’s brother-in-law), the STF decided to merge Shukla’s photo with the image of a film star’s torso to create a likely complete image of the ‘gangster’, while making it difficult for him to identify where the photo had been sourced from.
“I saw Sunil Shetty [his image] on a poster in Lucknow and asked a photographer to mix Shukla’s photo with Shetty’s torso to reproduce a full picture,” claimed Pandey.
The STF also roped in a student from IIT Kanpur to make a device to track Shukla’s phone conversations, revealed Pandey, adding that it was possibly the first case of telephone tapping in India. This device was made for Rs 5000, he said.
‘Guddu Muslim started bombing in Lucknow University’
Guddu Muslim, one of the accused in BJP leader Umesh Pal’s February murder case, had also already started being active in the 1990s, claimed Pandey.
The “bomb specialist” who is being sought by the STF, is believed to have been a close aide of Atiq Ahmed, who was gunned down with his brother, Ashraf, in Prayagraj on 15 April.
According to Pandey, it was Muslim who started the spate of bombing incidents in Lucknow University in the ’90s.
“Guddu Muslim, was originally from Sultanpur’s Gosainganj and stayed in Lucknow University hostel for two-and-half years, under the identity of Ashish Chaudhary,” Pandey alleged.
The retired IPS officer added: “When Atiq [Ahmed] helped him get bail in 2001 [in a Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act case], he gave him a house in Chakia [Prayagraj] and also got him married. Since then, he has been with Atiq, who had done many favours for him. Guddu followed him like a shadow,” he said.
Atiq and his brother Ashraf were gunned down while being taken for a medical check-up in police custody in Prayag last month. Three suspects have since been taken into custody for the shooting. Ashraf’s reference to Muslim just before being shot dead has sparked speculation of backstabbing by the bomb expert.
Ahmed, Ashraf, Muslim, several members of Ahmed’s family and alleged gang are accused in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal and the February killing of Umesh Pal, a key witness in the Raju Pal case.
Pandey also spoke of Muslim’s alleged involvement in the death of Ayodhya contractor Santosh Singh, reportedly killed in an accident on the Lucknow-Raibareilly road in 1998.
The retired cop alleged that the death had been a murder orchestrated by Muslim and Dhananjay Singh.
“They [Muslim and Singh] gave him a dose [of poisonous substance, in a cold drink]. They gave him a dose in a sabzi [vegetable] and he fell unconscious. However, they were unsure of his death and strangulated him before dumping him on the Lucknow-Raibareilly road and then vehicles were rolled over his body,” Pandey alleged.
Allegations of Muslim and Dhananjay murdering Santosh were also made by Gosainganj MLA Abhay Singh’s aide Randhir Singh Lalla last month. Dhananjay had denied the allegations when ThePrint had reached him for comment at the time.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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