New Delhi: A sumptuous vegetarian feast including chole naan, tikki chaat and golgappas for the wedding guests, the bride and groom receiving the blessings of the elders in the last few moments of the shubh muhurat.
One would assume that this was a scene from any other Delhi wedding — except for the army of SWAT commandos surrounding the couple on stage, and police personnel frisking their relatives.
The groom, donning a white kurta-pyjama and a purple waistcoat, arrived at the venue from Tihar jail, on custody parole. The bride, currently out on bail, came in a Scorpio from Jatheri village, wearing a red sari.
And that is how two gangsters, Sandeep alias Kala Jatheri and Anuradha Chowdhury, or ‘Madam Minz’ as she is better known, officially tied the knot at the Santosh Garden banquet hall in Dwarka, in the presence of more police officers than family members.
Wanted in multiple cases, the two were arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell from a dhaba in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district in July 2021. According to a dossier prepared by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Haryana Police, Kala Jatheri, a resident of Jatheri village in Sonipat, has 74 cases against him, including murder, attempt to murder and Arms Act cases. Anuradha, a resident of Rajasthan’s Sikar, is booked in at least 10 cases, including multiple kidnappings, and money laundering.
Anuradha has been acquitted in three cases, and is a graduate who is contemplating pursuing law to defend her now husband in court.
According to the Delhi Police, the couple already got married in Indore in 2020 and stayed there for four months.
Frisking, ID checks
For the wedding, the Delhi Police had the two entry points of the Santosh Garden banquet hall under tight security. Only those whose names were on the guest list provided by the family were allowed entry, that too after verification through their Aadhaar cards.
Movement of guests was restricted to one entry and one exit point, while the other entry point was kept clear for Kala Jatheri’s arrival from Tihar in a police prison vehicle.
A police officer present at the venue told ThePrint that the banquet hall was booked by Jatheri’s legal team for a sum of Rs 51,000, and security preparations began four days in advance.
“Nearly 200 police personnel are present, comprising officers from the crime branch, special cell, Dwarka district and Bindapur police station along with some 20-25 SWAT commandos,” said another police officer.
Some individuals, who said they were residents of Jatheri village and had wedding invitations, were denied entry. Police officers at the venue said they had been instructed not to allow anyone in after the groom’s arrival.
“Entry of guests after Sandeep’s arrival does not give us the time required to verify the documents and frisk them properly, hence we are not letting guests enter after his arrival,” an officer said.
Cops outnumber baraati, relatives
As the wedding ceremonies went on, what stood out was that the security personnel heavily outnumbered the couple’s relatives.
Jatheri’s brother Pradeep told ThePrint that the families wanted the wedding to be a low-key affair considering the security required at the venue.
“The police did not impose any restrictions on us in terms of limiting the number of guests at the wedding. We did not want to gather a huge crowd considering necessary security arrangements,” said another family member.
“We felt strange looking at the security arrangements and assembly of media persons in huge numbers. We completed the wedding with all the necessary rituals,” Jatheri’s sister-in-law told ThePrint, not wanting to be named.
Caterers serving food at the wedding admitted that there was a bit of fear and apprehension considering the tight security arrangements.
One of them said Jatheri’s legal team had booked their services some 20 days in advance, and while they had been told to prepare food for 400 people, only around 150 guests turned up.
This caterer further said that after they arrived at the venue early Monday, bomb squads with “sophisticated” tools did a sweep of the premises, including their stalls.
‘Madam Minz’ — Anand Pal’s aide to aspiring advocate?
According to the Delhi Police, the first criminal case was lodged against Anuradha Chowdhury in 2014 under the Rajasthan Excise Act and the Arms Act in Rajasthan’s Nagaur, leading to her arrest, following which she spent eight months in jail.
When she got out on bail, she allegedly went to meet gangster Anand Pal Singh, who was lodged in an Ajmer prison.
Singh allegedly asked Anuradha to kidnap one Inder Chand Godara, a witness in the Jeevan Godara murder case. Singh was the main accused in this case.
She allegedly worked in close coordination with Anand Pal Singh till he was killed in an alleged encounter with the Rajasthan Police in 2017, and met Jatheria on the instructions of Anand Pal’s brother Vicky Singh in November 2020 in Indore. Notably, Jatheria had escaped Haryana Police’s custody when he was being taken to a Faridabad court in February 2020.
According to the Delhi Police, after Jatheria and Anuradha left Indore later in 2020, they went to Purnea in Bihar, Shirdi in Maharashtra, Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh and Mathura and Agra in Uttar Pradesh, and finally settled in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar in June 2021.
The counter-intelligence unit of the Delhi Police Special Cell arrested the couple from the Delhi-Saharanpur highway on 30 July, 2021.
‘Wrong message to society’
The police officers on duty at the wedding venue were visibly frustrated.
At least four police officers ThePrint spoke to said it gives a “wrong message” to society that “even dreaded gangsters” can get the kind of security given to cabinet ministers.
One policeman said that while custody parole is a legal right of an accused, he also lamented that the police, who have to deal with crimes ranging from burglary to murder, were being deployed to ensure the security of individuals who have inflicted death and brutality on innocents.
“Gives the wrong message to society. If it had to be done, a court marriage was the better option considering security threats. Police are already burdened. Why waste time on [their] security?” another police officer said.
Meanwhile, the second parole granted to Jatheri for the griha pravesh ceremony scheduled to take place in his native village Wednesday has been stayed by a local court.
“There will be no activity by Jatheri’s family on Wednesday as they had planned. The court has stayed the second parole for the ceremony at his native village,” a senior Sonipat police officer told ThePrint.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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