Former encounter-specialist Ravindra Angre, who had gunned down 54 underworld gangsters and criminals in his controversial career, has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Fiftynine-year-old Angre joined the party in the presence of Maharashtra BJP cheif Raosaheb Patil Danve at a function held at Thane on Sunday night.
A 1983-batch officer of the Maharashtra Police Training Academy, Angre had shot to fame in 90s and early 2000s. Known for dare-devilry, Angre had shot dead 33 notorious gangsters in Mumbai, while he had gunned down 21 notorious criminals in the neighbouring Thane district. Dreaded gangster Suresh Manchekar was one of the criminals that Angre eliminated during his career.
However, his career took a nosedive in mid-2000s after he faced charges of corruption and extortion. Angre, whose most controversial tenure was when he was heading the anti-extortion cell of the Thane police, was arrested in 2008 and remained behind the bars for 14 months on charges of grabbing a property owned by a builder.
However, he was acquitted of all the charges in 2010. Following his acquittal, Angre was reinstated into police service after remaining under suspension for nearly six years. A couple of years ago, he took voluntary retirement from police service. In 2011, he had announced his decision to take up social work, after retirement. After his entry to the BJP, Angre said that while he was police force he had killed criminals. “From now on, I will dedicate my life to social cause,” he said.
Angre is the second senior police officer to join the BJP in Maharashtra in recent years. Earlier, Mumbai’s former Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh had resigned from the Indian Police Service and joined the BJP on January 31, 2014. He subsequently contested the 2014 lok Sabha polls from Bhagpat constituency on a BJP ticket and won.