Ranchi (12.03.2024): Mineral-rich Jharkhand has a history of dreaded smuggling gangs and mafia ruling the roost even before the region was carved out of united Bihar. Gangs of Wasseypur and recent Netflix series Jamtara – Sabka Number Ayega are some of the celluloid depictions of notoriety of gangsters in the state. Apparently taking a leaf from gangster Vikas Dubey of Uttar Pradesh who tried to escape by snatching a gun from the police, the dreaded gangster of Jharkhand Aman Sahu too attempted to escape but met with the same fate. Jharkhand police are being applauded for its quick response bringing in a sigh of relief to the business ecosystem.
This has brought the pathetic law and order situation of Jharkhand to the fore once again when BJP MLA C P Singh not only targeted the government but also castigated DGP Anurag Gupta (IAS: 1990: JH) of the state in Assembly for failing on duty miserably.
The BJP has been targeting the JMM government on Bangladeshi infiltrators’ reign of terror in the tribal areas but these allegations were always brushed aside for being politically motivated. However, the killing of NTPC DGM Gaurav Kumar in Hazaribagh has set the alarm bell ringing for the government to deal with criminals. Reportedly, these groups are frequently demanding blood money from mining companies and their employees in this area. Given Gaurav Kumar’s responsibility for coal dispatch, the murder may be linked to such extortion activities. Besides big gang, many tiny criminal gangs mushroomed in the state during all these years.
Kumar was killed last Friday in Hazaribagh and there was an attempt to kill another person, a coal trader Bipin Mishra, in Ranchi on Thursday by firing at him. Allegedly Sahu developed links with Lawrence Bishnoi to run his network in Jharkhand. Reportedly, this made the Jharkhand police to seek transit remand of gangster Sahu.
As per police reports, the police convoy was first attacked with a bomb by Sahu’s gang, after that Sahu tried to escape by looting the INSAS. During this, he was killed in retaliatory action. A police officer also sustained injuries in the encounter. Aman Sahu-led gang has been engaging in extorting money from those involved in coal projects and other businessmen in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
The encounter of Sahu may be the result of the police crackdown in view of Kumar’s murder. The killing of Sahu has been praised by all including the opposition BJP as he became a dreaded name in Jharkhand.
Actually, instability of successive governments had made things even worse in Jharkhand vis e vis law and order situation except for a small period of the Raghubar Das government when not only law and order including the Left-wing violence but public distribution system, road construction, connectivity and power supply infrastructure improved drastically. But it was back to square one after the defeat of the BJP government.
