Web Only Feature

FALLEN HEROES

As encounter specialists, they had the criminals on the run. Today, tainted and mollified, they are on the run themselves. A special report by India Today.

Despite a narrative with all the ingredients of a masala film-action, drama, emotion-this story is hat ke (different). For one, the script has two versions. And though it veers towards a climax where the crime-fighting heroes turn out to be villains, the closure is yet to be penned.

The first version has a 28-year-old computer engineer returning from Dubai to his village Parbhani in Maharashtra only to be arrested on charges of being a terrorist and a conspirator in a bus blast. He is tortured in custody and his body disposed of at a farmhouse. As a cover-up, the police ferry a burqa-clad constable to another city, stage an accident and say the accused has escaped. Or so alleges the father of the deceased. The police have a different version. The accused, according to them, was being taken in a police jeep when the vehicle overturned and he escaped. Only, the court refuses to believe them. And, unfortunately for all concerned, the story is true.

The court in this case is the Bombay High Court and the accused, Sayyed Khwaja Yunus, whose alleged custodial death after being charged with the 2002 Ghatkopar bus blast, has led to unexpected ramifications. For once, the law enforcers are in the dock. The then sub-inspector Sachin Hindurao Vaze, who has killed 48 criminals in encounters, was arrested by the state cid (now called the State Intelligence Unit). He is now out on bail but the pota court has refused to discharge him even though the High Court has ordered that a fresh fir, based on another prime accused Dr Abdul Mateen's statement before the metropolitan magistrate, should be registered. Mateen has said that Yunus was tortured to death in custody and that he witnessed the cover-up. Several other officials, including acp Ambadas Pote, senior police inspector Arun Borude (both supported the escape theory), dcp Pradeep Sawant, who is in custody in connection with the Abdul Karim Telgi fake stamp paper case, and the men who were supposed to be in the jeep with Vaze when Yunus escaped-constables Rajendra Tiwari and Sunil Desai, and driver Rajaram Nikam, who are still absconding-are under cid scrutiny. "The exposure suggests the ultimate abuse of police power," says criminal advocate Majid Memon.

The case is not the only one of its kind. All over the city, crime busters who had hogged the limelight are embroiled in controversies. While some have been demoted or transferred, others have been arrested. High-ranking officials currently in jail include former Mumbai police commissioner R.S. Sharma; Sridhar Wagal, the then joint police commissioner, crime and Sawant.

Another encounter specialist, sub-inspector Daya Nayak, who has gunned down 83 gangsters and inspired a couple of Bollywood films, might face trial under the anti-mob law. In fact, a mcoca court sought sanction from Mumbai Police Commissioner A.N. Roy to prosecute him in April as the court cannot take cognisance of an offence without the prior sanction of the authorities concerned. Special judge A.P. Bhangale referred the case after a private complaint against Nayak by former journalist and self-confessed gangster Ketan Tirodkar alleging his links with underworld don Chhota Shakeel. In the report submitted to the court Roy states that there is enough evidence to prosecute Tirodkar, builder R.C. Agarwal and Shakeel. But he adds that the case against Nayak and filmmaker Mrinalini Patel, daughter of Union Minister of State for Rural Development Suryakanta Patil, needs to be investigated further. He has appointed acp Dilip Sawant of the Economic Offences Wing to investigate Nayak's activities. Tirodkar and Agarwal, who are likely to be arrested soon, might spill the beans after which a formal complaint is expected to be lodged against Nayak and others.

What has, however, sent the Mumbai police into a tailspin is the cid's plea to conduct brain mapping on Vaze and others. The court initially gave permission but later passed a stay order. There is also a perception that rivalry among encounter specialists has triggered the current crisis. Says a retired senior officer of the Crime Branch: "The showmanship of some officers who are busy chasing personal goals have taken the system for a ride."

Earlier this year, after over 40 Crime Branch officers were found guilty of corruption and extortion, nine high-profile inspectors were shunted out by Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Satyapal Singh. These include Rajendra Katdhare from the general branch; Nayak; Pradip Sharma whose term saw 100 encounter killings; encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar who was posted to the Bandra Intelligence Unit and police stations across the city following the disbanding of the Mumbai police's elite Anti-Extortion Cells (aec); V.T. Kolhekar, who was then the second-in-command in Salaskar's crack squad; and S.L. Darekar, the aide-de-camp of acp Vashist Andhale, of the airport unit, among others. Singh is now ready with a second list to clean up the police force.

In 2001, the then joint commissioner (law and order), Y.C. Pawar, wrote to Singh suggesting the closure of three out of 10 aecs. Singh had ordered the disbanding of five cells that had allegedly become dens of extortion. These were the cells that with 370 encounters since 2000 had sounded the death knell for the city's criminals. In the process they also created supercops like Pradip Sharma, Salaskar (45 killings) and Nayak. Sharma defends himself by saying, "Policemen take action as per the demands of the time and it may not necessarily be correct all the time."

The issue of encounter deaths was raised by several human rights organisations in Mumbai in 1997 when Abu Sayema, alias Javed Fawda, and Gawli gangsters Sada Pawle and Vijay Tandel were killed by Salaskar and his team. In a severe indictment of the police force, a sessions court had held that the encounters were not "genuine". However, the Bombay High Court later ruled that the police officials had acted in self-defence. With the supercop brigade in trouble, 2004 has seen only six encounters so far.

With the Yunus and Nayak cases, the subject has come up for appraisal yet again and this time the state seems in no mood to defend its fallen heroes. The script awaits an ending.

BUSINESS TODAY | INDIA TODAY PLUS | SMART INC.
MUSIC TODAY | ART TODAY | THE NEWSPAPER TODAY | SYNDICATIONS TODAY

Write to us | Subscriptions | Advertise with us
© Living Media India Ltd