Criminals committing crimes in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and other places in the country continue to favour Uttarakhand – especially its plain regions in Dehradun, Haridwar, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar districts as a safe heaven.
Increasing encounter killings in Uttar Pradesh under the Yogi Adityanath government has caused criminal from the neighbouring state to seek shelter in Uttarakhand after committing crimes there. Three criminals- Pradeep, a native of Haryana; Rashid, a native of Meerut and Mohsin, native of Ghaziabad who were among those arrested on Saturday evening following a shootout in Haridwar for kidnapping the owner of a private company from Ghaziabad and demanding Rs two crore from his family had said to the police in course of interrogation that they moved through parts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh but entered Haridwar considering it a safe place for hiding. They were fearful of meeting with an ‘encounter’ had they been caught by the police in Uttar Pradesh, said one of the accused.
Earlier, a gangster wanted in Punjab was arrested from a hotel in Dehradun in a joint operation by the Dehradun and Faridkot police teams on January 13. Harsimrandeep Singh, alias Sema, an A-category gangster from Faridkot’s Behbal Kalan village, along with Ramesh Kumar and Rohit Badu, natives of Rajasthan were arrested after police were tipped off about his presence in Dehradun. Firearms and cartridges were recovered from them.
One after another such incidents are being come into light for the last few years. Some years ago, a property dealer Sanjay Kumar Nagar who was himself a criminal with several cases against him was shot dead in the broad daylight by three unidentified persons on January 31, 2014. The real name of Sanjay Kumar Nagar was Anil and several cases against him were registered in various police stations of Ghaziabad, Noida and Delhi.
It was clear from this instance that for the hardened criminals like him, Dehradun proved to be a safe hideout.
Another instance buttressing this point was when in Patelnagar, a property dealer Dharmpal who had shifted from Baghpat to Dehradun was shot dead at the doorstep of his house by two unidentified persons in the same year. Dharmpal was also known to be involved in many shady land deals.
Moreover, a 30-year-old Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) native Anuj Singh who had been absconding from Uttar Pradesh police committed suicide by shooting himself with his gun in his in-law’s home located at Jakhan (Rajpur) in Dehradun on January 15, 2014.
Earlier, with the joint efforts of Special Task Force, Uttarakhand and STF Bihar, Shambhu Singh, a most wanted criminal of Bihar and ex-member of Munna Shukla and Prakash Shukla gang was arrested from GMS Road, Balliwala Chowk, Dehradun on April 3, 2013. Shambhu Singh alias Santosh Mishra alias Samir, native of Muzaffarpur, Bihar had been booked for around 42 murders and other serious crimes in different police stations of Bihar. Observers opine that the local Intelligence Unit (lIU) officials should take lesson from such incidents and should strengthen their information networks apart from utilising resources effectively to avoid untoward incidents in the state in future.