Initial Days as SP Bagaha
Nostalgic
Memories from the December of 2006
The Police
District of Bagaha, where I spent some of the most memorable days of life as a
young Superintendent of Police, is not a full-fledged district as yet but
remains as a revenue sub-division in the West Champaran district of Bihar.
Situated in
the north-western part of Bihar, and sharing borders with Nepal and the state
of Uttar Pradesh, the place is often described as a small sleepy town with a
small population. Topographically, a better way to explain the peculiar terrain
and features of the region would be to describe it as the southernmost part of
the Himalayan ranges.
In the times when the British ruled
the country Bagaha was a part of the revenue sub-division of Bettiah, the
current district headquarters of West Champaran. Bettiah along with Motihari
sadar formed parts of the huge Champaran district with its headquarters at
Motihari, presently the headquarters for East Champaran. As the name in
Sanskrit signifies, Champaran (Champa + aranya) is the land of the ‘Champa’
forest. It must have been a dense forest in historic and prehistoric times, the
remnants of which are still to be seen in the Valmikinagar Tiger Project Area,
named after the great sage Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana and believed to
have hailed from the region.
Prior to the 1st of
December in 2006, I had never ever imagined even in the wildest of my thoughts that
I would someday be posted as the SP of Bagaha. The name of Bagaha in the
subconscious mind had often seemed like some distant land in Bihar cut-off from
the mainstream, and of which I had no particular knowledge. But so quick was
the transition that just one phone call at around 9.45 p.m. changed the whole
way in which my thinking process was set. At that time, I had completed about 9
months being the City Superintendent of Police in Patna. On that particular day
I had left office late for my residence as I had been busy with signing the orders
on several crime files. As I was alighting the stairs to reach the Bedroom of
the old Historic City SP Residence in Gandhimaidan, Patna, I saw the phone
ringing with the name of the caller being the DGP, Bihar. As I picked the call,
the DGP congratulated and informed me that the Government had posted me as the
new SP of Bagaha and had desired my presence in the new place of posting
overnight. I was advised to start within 1 or 2 hours on the journey for Bagaha
via Muzaffarpur. So sudden was the impact of the call, that I could hardly
react and just affirmed my consent as the short call ended. As I was on the
first floor of the old residence, I saw my wife waiting who totally unaware of
the new development, was seemingly perturbed about my having been very late
from office.
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| Last moments at the Historic City SP Residence, the open Gypsy gate symbolizing the Journey to Bagaha |
As I informed her about the new development,
there was a sense of sudden discomfort and anxiety that I could notice easily,
but which I tried to handle with care and responsibility. She was quite sad
after the sudden transfer and blaming me also reminded about her constant grudge
that I was working too hard in Patna, and hardly had any time left for her. In fact,
she was quite right as even I often had felt as if I was working like a virtual
human machine, devoid of emotions. But
the scheme of things had now changed after the sudden call and I had to soon leave
for Bagaha. I started packing my bags, also consoling my wife in the process as
the message spread around in the residence about the sudden transfer.
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| Ready for Bagaha on the cold December Night |
I started for Bagaha at about 1 am on
the cold night of 2nd December, 2006. Initially, it was quite hard
to believe that I had suddenly been shifted out and had to reach Bagaha
overnight. Ever since December, 2005, when I had got posted in Patna as ASP,
Danapur, and since March, 2006 as City SP, I had been virtually living and
thinking round the clock only and only about Patna and its crime scenario. As I
prepared for the journey, the events of the past 9 months kept emerging as sorts
of flashback in the memory space. I had been working very hard in the capacity
of City SP, Patna and to my credit had reduced the number of criminal cases
pending for investigation in the various police stations of the city from about
12000 to only about 7000. The initial 6 months had been like fire-fighting all
around, but life had become more organized and systematic since the previous 3
months. My time in Patna had virtually revolved
and adjusted around every happening crime. With every passing day in the nine
months of the tenure, new experiences had always kept coming. There had been
times when Patna seemed to be very peaceful, and soon later there were times
when the whole city seemed to go berserk. Life in Patna had been quite eventful
and though difficult it was still enjoyable for the sake of respect that one
got from society at large in recognition of good and hard work.
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| Last moments in Office |
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| Final Visit to Office as City SP, Patna |
Nostalgic events from the time spent
in Patna, and just before as the Asst. SP of Danapur Sub Division of Patna were
running in my mind as I bid farewell to my wife and started for the City SP
office to have a final photograph of the moment when I would be departing from
the office which had undergone a significant transformation during my tenure.
The office I was leaving had its changed looks and workstyle to my credit. The
investigation of cases in Patna was now being closely monitored with help of
computerized databases. The results were quite visible for all to experience. After
the Photo-session with office staff I started on the journey to Bagaha.
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| Last Look at Crime Scenario of Patna as I left for Bagaha |
It was about 2 p.m. when I told all Police
Stations on the wireless that I was leaving Patna. I wished them the best for
their future as I left for the road leading to Ganga Bridge through the lanes
of Patna City which wore a deserted look in the night. I prayed to the Ganga on
reaching the bridge and sought blessings from the mighty and holy river flowing
continuously with the changing times and remaining like a mute witness to the various
events in the timeline. The river is a witness to those times when the country
and beyond was being ruled from its banks in the times of the Mauryan emperors
along with other events in history. It has been witness to a time when the
charge of the city was in hands of ministers and senapatis of kings and
emperors, and today is witness to a democratic system of governance evolved
since the British Rule. On that night I felt that it was also standing as a witness
to the journey of a person who had been living on its banks and trying to make
an impact in the crime scenario of the Historic city for the previous 9 months.
I had always tried to speak to the river from my sub-conscious mind as I had
stayed in Patna, and now was the time to say a temporary ‘Good-Bye for now’.
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| Valmikinagar |
As I crossed the Ganga and started
moving on the route to Muzaffarpur, I had no vague idea of what was awaiting me
ahead in Bagaha. I was not very clear even about the routes of the destination
that I had been asked to move overnight. My driver and bodyguard from Patna
were accompanying me on the overnight journey and were also not quite familiar
with the route to be taken. There was some confusion at a cross-junction in
Muzzafarpur due to which we took the wrong route and traversed about 50 kms on
the wrong highway before realizing the faux pas. We then decided to take the
route though village roads to reach Chakia on the highway to Motihari instead
of returning back to Muzzafarpur to take the proper and regular route to
Motihari. But this again was an ill conceived decision as we realized later
when we were moving through different villages in the dark and foggy cold night
trying to find ways to reach Chakia, without anyone awake to guide.
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| The Dense Jungles of Valmikinagar |
I reached Bettiah at about 9 am and
met my old mate from IIT Kanpur Days in the Circuit house for breakfast. Bagaha
was still 65 kms away and the road ahead had seemingly not been repaired for
almost the last 15 years. It was then that I noticed the TV in the room flashing
the news of my transfer. Another major incident that morning had been the
capsizing of the rail overhead bridge called Ultapul in Bhagalpur under which
some bogies of a train had been damaged. This incident had by then acquired the
headlines and had probably lowered the importance of the incident last night in
Bagaha. I was still quite unaware about the happenings in Bagaha and thus asked
my friend about what had happened in Bagaha. He had been in Bettiah for quite
some time as an IAS probationer. It was from him that I gathered the first
brief of the happenings in Bagaha, which had served as the reason for my sudden
shift.
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| The Happenings in Bagaha on the 1st December, 2006 |
After breakfast, I started for Bagaha
immediately, but was forced to proceed on a slow paced shaky ride due to the
roads which had craters that seemed crafted with asteroids like those on the
Moon or Mars. On both sides of the road was seen nothing but green sugarcane
fields or people seen busy either in harvesting or lading sugarcane over
bullock carts. Houses were met with after distances on the road which was full
of bullock carts moving towards a direction that looked like Bagaha. Motor
vehicles were met with rarely as I reached Bagaha at about 2 pm after crossing
a British era vintage bridge that seemed likely to collapse any moment at
Malpurva. I reported to the Zonal IG Muzaffarpur already present in Bagaha. He had
earlier been IG, Training during my probation days and knew me quite well. He
was in Bagaha along with the Champaran Range DIG. As they took me along in
their car to the house of the local MP, it was time for me to realize that I
had to now take over the first independent district of my career. I was now the
Superintendent of Police of Bagaha.
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| TOI Patna front page dated 2nd December, 2006 |
Now I must narrate a brief about the
happenings in Bagaha on the previous day and night. The day before had seen
turmoil in the town. In two related incidents at two places in the ‘diara’ i.e.
‘reta’ (land mass between streams of the river) of the Gandak, 4 farmers had
been killed by gangsters known locally as ‘Dasyus’. Gangsters had been
described as having had their bases in Bagaha since times immemorial. Talking
about the antiquity of crime in the area one was reminded of Valmiki as himself
having been a dacoit before he decided to take the life of a saint. After the
killing of the farmers the bodies had been brought to Bagaha for post mortem
examination and legal formalities. A crowd of around a thousand had gathered in
the town which was against the police of the district. The people of Bagaha nursed
a feeling that the spurt in crime and terror of the gangs operating in the ‘diara’
or ‘reta’ as called locally was due to lack of proper Police action. Due to the
fury of the mob which indulged in brickbatting and arson, the local police
could not control the situation and had to resort to firing in which 1 person immediately
succumbed to his injuries while 3 others
got badly injured of which another later died. The incident had created tremors
in the state headquarters which decided to shift the incumbent SP and thus had
I been posted and asked to join overnight.
After joining as SP, Bagaha, I was
pleased to find myself in the lap of nature. I had an opportunity to see the
birds about which I used to read in books. I was now very close to the famous
Valmikinagar National Park famous for its tigers, leopards and other wildlife
and felt like reliving the adventures of jungle lovers like Corbett and others.
I had never liked city life fully and had always wanted to live in a peaceful
and picturesque surrounding. The opportunity for all that I once visualized was
seen right there in Bagaha. The IG and DIG camped with me in Bagaha for the
next 3 days and I was gradually getting familiarized with the place which would
be my home and workplace in the following months. During the first week I
almost had no contact with the outside world remaining away from TV or internet.
I was busy transforming myself for the challenging days ahead and was
interacting with local people and police officers, making efforts to understand
the reasons behind the turmoil the place was faced with.
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| First Interaction with Press in Bagaha |
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| The Mission Statement |
Bagaha
had 17 Police Stations with 2 police subdivisions headed by DSP’s along with a DSP
at the headquarters. A senior IPS
officer who was then leading the police at Muzzafarpur was called to Bagaha to
brief me for the responsibility. He had been very successful in Bagaha with
people still remembering him like a hero. He had worked very effectively in
Bagaha in very turbulent times. I learnt a lot from his experiences and through
him also got connected to several informers and good citizens. He left after a
night stay by the next evening train. When I had gone to drop him to the
Railway Station, the scenes of the quite dark station reminded me of R.K.
Narayan’s Malgudi Days. Something was very peculiar about Bagaha, its people,
its characteristic lifestyle and over all ambience, which I had then felt would
make a great book if properly catalogued. But for me the immediate task was the
one for which I had been entrusted with, and it was to break the backbone of
the criminals operating in Bagaha to ensure lasting peace.
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| At SP, Bagaha Residence, 5th December, 2006 |
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| Initial Briefing in Bagaha |
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| Senior Officers camping in Bagaha, 2nd December, 2006 |
THE FIRST MAJOR RAID OF THE DIARA
Bagaha was very tense, when I had
taken charge and I really did not know as to how crime could be controlled in a
district with such tough topographic and geographic challenges. Bagaha was on
the extreme north-west corner of Bihar. On the southern side of the district lay
the diara of the mighty river Gandak which enters India in Valmikinagar. The
diara stretched for several kilometers at places and had 4 administrative
blocks and 4 police stations on the other side of the river, which were then approachable
only either by way of physical crossing of the river and walking for miles, or by
using vehicles for traversing a distance of more than 100 kms through the
neighbouring district of Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh. It was virtually
impossible to physically dominate the diara by mere presence of force, and I
realized this pretty early in my tenure. The diara had several streams flowing
in between the several landmasses which were like virtual islands.
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| News about the First major raid in the Diara |
I always remember my first attempt to
carry out a full scale combing operation in the diara with about 150 men. It
was launched towards the middle of December, and in order to achieve the
desired objectives, we had started quite early from Bagaha to reach the other
side of the diara after a 2 hour journey through UP. We had information about one
particular gang of Chumman Yadav (who was responsible for the killing of the
farmers), residing in a certain part of the diara along with two kidnapped
victims. The plan was to try to ‘comb’ a large region of the diara with a sort
of parallel formation of force. We had also put in three police teams at 3
strategic locations on the corners of the diara where the gang members were
expected to flee on seeing the police. Another police team had been dispatched
the previous night, to hide within the dense sugarcane field on one possible
exit route. This particular team was supposed to stay there continuously with
ration for 3 days and throughout the nights in a hidden manner. They had
carried blankets and other necessary items for communication with them. Accompanying
me were a company of CRPF commanded by an Inspector aged about 58 years, along
with district police and SAP jawans.
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| Trees in the Diara of the Gandak |
At
7 am we started from Bagaha for the diara. It took us about one and half hour
to reach Padrauna, the district headquarter of Kushinagar. All of us were
already hungry by then, so we decided to stay there for half an hour for
breakfast. We stopped at the main chowk of Padrauna, and may have created quite
a stir by sheer numbers of the uniformed men. After breakfast, it took us
another hour to reach the starting point. It was from here that our actual foot
journey was to begin. Some local informers had joined us here. On reaching the
ghat, there were no ghatwars (the local boatmen), and we had to send one
informer to swim across and get the boat which was parked about 70 meters on
the other side of the river. I received a call from the SP of Kushinagar on my
cellphone. He was apprehensive about the information he received from Padrauna.
He wanted to know whether the men seen in Padrauna were from Bihar Police, and
whether we wanted some help from him. I had never contacted UP Police, because the
areas where the raid was to be conducted were fully under my command.
We
crossed the river in four subgroups on the same boat. There I briefed rigourous
details about the major combing operation to all the men again. Various
constables who were seemingly quite familiar with the terrain probably looked
at me with a sense of amazement, but listened to all the instructions very
patiently. I told them as to how we had to maintain a distance of 5 meters
between individuals and thus cover the whole diara while walking forward. But
as we begun the operation, it did not take us even 200 meters of distance to
realize that a combing operation of the diara was just impossible.
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| During a raid in the Forest |
As
we crossed the sandy stretch along the river, our first encounter was with a
dense field of rahri (local pulse variety). Never had I imagined how difficult
walking through such a field could be. The bushes were more than 8 to 10 ft in
height and also had thorny undergrowths in between. Many a times one had to
struggle vigorously in order to save branches from entering into eyes. Everyone’s
hands were getting badly bruised due to the rough undergrowths. All had to open
the sleeves of the uniform in order to save bruising. But the face could still
not be saved. But, it was in such dense bushes that the dacoits or jungle
parties made their homes. Just after some distance we came across the first abode
of the gang we sought to chase. It consisted of about six beds mad of cut
branches of rahri. The beds were seemingly quite comfortable and were supplied
with sort of pillows also made from the same bushes. From the site, one could
assess that the gang had probably spent the night at that place and the beds
seemed to have been quite freshly laid. They had placed the beds in between
bushes to protect themselves from the fog and dew. The dacoits generally place
a chadar (sheet) on these beds and cover their tops with polythene sheets to
save themselves from the dew drops. The hostile circumstances in which they
lived made us realise the hard lives of the criminals.
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| Moving in the Diara |
As
we crossed the field the group had already split into many, so I realized that
a change was required in the original instructions. In the present
circumstances, even a small firing could lead to loss of lives on our side
itself due to turmoil and confusion. Thus thereafter it was decided to change
the strategy and move in two parallel straight lines. Even this got changed
later as both lines gradually merged into one in tune with the tough terrain.
As we proceeded, we came across some other resting places of the dacoits in
between the bushes and sugarcane fields, before reaching the spot where our
informers wanted to lead us. However, on reaching the spot nothing but except
some polythene sheets and wasted rice, which the dacoits had left before
fleeing, could be seen. At some distance was found an open field in which some
men were cutting sugarcane who initially upon being inquired did not reveal
anything about the criminal’s whereabouts to us. But, after some conversation
with the local informers they told us that about 35 armed men had just left the
place and had proceeded in the direction towards Bagaha.
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| Sands in the Diara |
The
local informers wanted us to go in two groups, so as to cover at least two
directions in which they could have fled. But it was already about 2 pm, so I
decided to keep the group intact and to walk to Bagaha. They told me that
Bagaha was quite far, but I was quite enthusiastic on that day. No one knew how
distant Bagaha was from there, but they made different types of guesses. Our
tiring foot journey had begun. We left some local officers there for planning
ambush parties in the night time. When we reached the other side of the diara,
we had walked for almost 35 kilometers in very difficult terrain. We had to
cross minor streams at least 20 times. The time was 8.00 pm when we reached
Bagaha side of the river. We sat in the vehicles to reach Bagaha, and almost
everyone had bruises, and had been very tired. I told the STF commander to be
prepared for another raid, the next morning which I later cancelled on phone in
the night. They were very happy to know about the cancellation, which they told
me later.
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| The beginning of change in Bagaha |
Even
though the massive raid was not successful in its motive, it had a great impact
on the psyche of the dacoit gangs. We later realized this when one of the
kidnapped persons returned back home and informed us that he had seen us in
that operation from a distance of just about 20 meters. All the dacoits were hiding
in a sugarcane field while we were moving towards Bagaha. He had then been
warned not to make noise and so had kept silent. The gangs saw the scale and
determination of the police and were not to be seen in the diara for moths to
come. It also sent a strong message to the residents of the diara who seldom
had seen an SP walking on foot in the diara and chasing criminals.
The Sugarcane Seizure Campaign
I
had made my first mark on the policing of the district. Several such raids were
organized in the following weeks, and I was at times a party. Several raids in
several parts of the district were organized simultaneously to create havoc
amongst the gangs. The strategy was working but something more seemed to be
required apart from physical domination exercises. It was towards the end of
December that the idea of seizure of illegal sugarcane grown by the criminals on
captured and unclaimed lands had been conceptualized. The time for its
execution had arrived perhaps.
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| Scanning through Crime Files in Office in Bagaha in the initial days |
The
dacoits of Bagaha had a style of their own, which is rarely seen. The gangs of
Champaran did not carry out their activites in disguise. But infact sent
letters of ransom with the stamp of their names like ‘Rudal Yadav, Bihar
Sarkar’ or ‘Vasudeo Yadav, Bihar Sarkar’. As I scanned through the crime files
in office to understand the district crime scenario better, I noticed several
letters of ransom which had been delivered to the relatives of people
kidnapped. All the gangs of Bagaha had a unique style of suffixing Bihar Sarkar
to their names in the stamp or letterheads prepared. Very often the prefix used
was ‘Jai Ma Durge’. The gangs had for long ruled in the areas of their
influence, and it was funny to see the use of ‘Bihar Sarkar’ as the suffix,
which is exclusively used as a suffix by officers of the state Government. But
their influence and fear was so strong that they indeed inspired people to call
them as such.
Apart from
collecting ransom at just one time, the dacoits were generous enough to offer
the facility of instalments for their victims, who complied. The list of ransom
sent in several cases gave interesting facts about the social status of the
dacoits. In one particular list on the letterhead of one Bihar Sarkar, the gang
had apart from a ransom of 5000 rupees also asked for another items like Nirma
Soap, Cooking Oil, a Goat (Khassi), and the funniest of all, Lungis of a
particular brand, named the Chand Mark. I later discovered that this was
believed to be one of the most comfortable brands of Lungis. After a stint as
the City SP of Patna for about a year, where the gangs used to operate using
mobile phones for asking ransom, this way of asking for ransom on letterheads
with the stamps of ‘Bihar Sarkar’ was unique indeed.
Several
dacoits had been killed in police encounters earlier in Bagaha, but the problem
remained. A famous operation called 'Operation Blackpanther' with a large
contingent of Police Force had been organized in early 1980’s. The model for
tackling the dacoits had more or less remained the same since then. After every
major incident by the dacoits, there would be combing operations in the jungle
and the diaras. The dacoits would disappear for sometime and then resume their
activities. There was no end in sight of a complex symptom. Dacoits had
actually become a part of the social set up. The dacoits had their families,
they possessed land,they had social relations and also organized social get
togethers which were at times attended by the political leaders of the area.
People in
the villages of Bagaha either supported the dacoits or opposed them. There were
villagers who patrolled their fields with arms to avoid the assault of dacoits.
Others provided shelter and information about the movements of the Police.
Local officer in-charges who were smart enough also struck deals with the
dacoits to not commit crimes in their jurisdiction. The dacoits ran gangs with
40 to 50 supporters and porters. They camped along the remote diaras during
police operations, and also hid in the bushes and the vast Sugarcane fields to
avoid showing their presence. As time passed during ambushes laid for arresting
the Dacoits in the Sugarcane Fields, it was found that a large area of Government
Land and also Land captured from farmers who could not afford to farm in the
diara due to the influence of dacoits, was being cultivated by dacoits. The
illegal cultivation of Sugarcane afforded the gangs with a steady source of
income. A total of about 320 acres of land was found being cultivated by the
dacoit gangs.
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| Sugarcane Seizure Campaign |
The Bagaha
operation started. A police camp was set up in the Nainaha Reta, which was the
stronghold of the dacoit gangs, and frequently used by the ganglord Vasudeo.
Vasudeo was the oldest dacoit operating in the area and had crossed 60 already.
Still there were local legends about him which were prevalent in the area.
People claimed that he could hide himself in water for hours to avoid being
caught by the police and similar ones. He was an expert in taking cover. This
was also experienced during my tenure when acting on a secret information of
his presence in a Flat in Delhi, a raid was carried out on accurate
information, but Vasudeo was not found. Later it was revealed that he had hid
himself in the water storage tank of the Flat.
As the
plan began for the cutting of illegally planted Sugarcane by the labourers
under the shadow of the police, the message was quite clear. The police meant
business and the long time economy of the dacoits was now in the fear of
extinction. At the start of the unique operation called ‘Ganna Katai’ in the
local parlance, many challenges were faced. Local labourers were not ready to
participate in the operation because they feared for their lives in even
touching the sugarcane planted by the dacoits. The fields of the dacoits had
the best crop and were distinct from the weaker fields surrounding them. The
dacoits extracted free labour from the villagers to cut the cane and to send it
to the mill for payment on fake names. But the same labourers who used to work
free for the dacoits were not willing to support the police despite their
poverty and despite being promised the minimum wages as per government rules.
It must be remarked that the fixed minimum wage of the government was much
higher than what they earned actually while working on a daily basis for
private farmers. To start with, the labourers were transported from a different
area of the district who were away from the local dacoit’s influence, and were
made to stay in a secured camp. They cut the cane during daytime, watched
Ramayana on VCD Player specially made available so that they did not lose their
interest, during the night and feasted on the provisions provided by the
police. Gradually the local labourers
also joined seeing the advantages of the exercise and challenged by the
difference it made to their poverty. The ‘Ganna Katai’ continued for about two
months and made a dent in the morale of the dacoit gangs. With every illegal
field being cut and the proceeds being delivered in the government treasury,
the confidence of the terrified villages started soaring. The areas which had
been the exclusive recluse of the dacoits were seeing a new revolution. Along
with the assault on their cane, their boats and other means of making money
were also targeted. The relatives of the dacoits were being counseled for
making their leaders surrender, as there was no hope. The surrender policy of
the Government was promoted by means of newspapers, and most of all by word of
mouth in the sleepy district which was going through an unexpected change.
Every successive day, more reports used to come from the field in the
newspapers, with the news papers adding their own spice to it.
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| Change being noted |
The Change
had begun !
(To be continued….)
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| Photograph taken at Residence in early January, 2007 |
