The December of 2006

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 1^st 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. 

 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. 

Ready for Bagaha on the cold December Night

I started for Bagaha at about 1 am on the cold night of 2^nd 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. 

Last moments in Office

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.

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’.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

First Interaction with Press in Bagaha

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.

At SP, Bagaha Residence, 5th December, 2006

Initial Briefing in Bagaha

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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.  

Change being noted

The Change had begun !

 (To be continued….)

Photograph taken at Residence in early January, 2007