Mainpuri: A police team from Jharkhand landed up in Nagla Puwayan village in Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri district Tuesday. Their mission: to nab alleged ‘crude oil thief’ Shailendra Thakur alias ‘Shailu’. They pasted a notice outside his house and declared to the neighbourhood that if he does not surrender, the house will be confiscated. But to their embarrassment, Thakur’s family told them he was already behind bars—in a jail in Mathura.
An FIR was lodged against Thakur and his brother Sukhendra alias ‘Sonu’ at the Mahabuang police station in Jharkhand’s Simdega district on 24 December 2022 for allegedly stealing crude oil from a pipeline.
On the night of 18 October this year, officers from Mathura’s Farah police station nabbed Thakur during an encounter, while his brother evaded capture.
Mathura police had declared a reward of Rs 50,000 for any information that might lead to his arrest.
Thakur, with at least 16 cases against him across Uttar Pradesh, was sent to judicial custody on 19 October. Of these, two were registered at Mathura’s Farah police station and four at Fatehpur’s Malwan Town police station.
But the question remains: why was he still marked absconding in Jharkhand police records more than a month after his arrest?
District Government Counsel (Criminal) Pushpendra Singh told ThePrint that if an accused wanted in connection with a crime in one state is arrested by police of another state, the first state can seek a B-warrant, through which a court can compel an inmate to appear for a hearing.
Inspector Abhishek Kumar from Mahabuang police station told ThePrint that since Thakur had been absconding for nearly two years, a notice declaring him an absconder was pasted outside his house in Mainpuri at the direction of a local court. Kumar added that Jharkhand police are now following due process to bring Thakur to the state for a court appearance.
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‘Stealing crude oil using valve’
Shedding light on the cases against Thakur, Inspector Kamlesh Singh of Mathura’s Farah police station told ThePrint that Amit Kumar, chief general manager (operations) of Indian Oil Corporation, filed a complaint on 21 September 2023 alleging theft of crude oil through installation of a valve in the oil pipeline of a refinery on Kosi Khurd-Sersa Marg.
Acting on the complaint, Mathura police arrested Nagla Puwayan resident Bablu alias ‘Vivek’ on 10 October, and Sersa resident Rakesh on 20 October that year. Police later arrested three more individuals, namely Nishant Karnik (a resident of Vadodara, Gujarat), Durgesh Yadav (a resident of Mainpuri) and Rameshchandra Yadav (a resident of Mathura) in connection with the case; Rs 4.5 lakh were recovered from them.
On 10 November 2023, police made two more arrests: Ashok Kumar and Avinash, both residents of Madhya Pradesh’s Indore. A month later, on 10 December, one Md Wasim alias ‘Salman’ (a resident of Lakhimpur Kheri) was also arrested in connection with the case.
A reward of Rs 50,000 was then declared for any information that might lead to the arrest of Shailendra Thakur, who eventually landed in the police net on 18 October after an encounter during which he fired at the police. Officers fired in retaliation and Thakur suffered three bullet wounds.