UP dons ‘feel safe’ in Mumbai

The encounter death of Kripashankar Chaudhry alias Doctor in Mumbai two weeks ago has once again highlighted the fact that Mumbai seems to be turning into a den for hardened criminals fleeing UP, especially from Purvanchal (eastern UP).

“We are following this trend and are in constant touch with the Mumbai police,” says SK Bhagat, SSP of the UP police’s elite Special Task Force (STF).

There are reports that Munna Bajrangi, Kripashankar’s gang leader, accused in the sensational murder of BJP MLC Krishnanand Rai, may also be hiding in Mumbai, though the STF has yet to confirm this report.

Kripashanker, a shooter of the Munna Bajrangi gang with a reward of Rs50,000, was shot in a joint operation of the STF and the Mumbai police. He was notorious for extorting and terrorising businessmen of eastern UP.

STF officials say that over the past five years, a number of criminals from UP have taken refuge in Mumbai. A senior police official says that earlier, criminals from UP used to flee to New Delhi, Ghaziabad or Noida. “This trend has changed, and they now prefer Mumbai,” he says.

Lakhs of migrants from eastern UP districts, like Azamgarh, Jaunpur and Bahraich, have settled in Mumbai.

“Criminals find easy shelter among their kin in Mumbai,” says Bhagat. The STF have identified certain areas in Mumbai, including Bhiwandi, Mira Road, Bhayander and Malad, which are fast becoming havens for criminals.

“It’s difficult to track them down as they do not commit crimes in Mumbai for fear of blowing their cover,” says a deputy SP of the STF.

Kripashanker’s encounter is the latest in a series of operations over the past few years.

In April, Firdaus, another Munna Bajrangi shooter accused in the Rai murder was gunned down in an encounter by the UP STF in Mumbai. Two other members, Anurag Singh and Rupesh Singh, were killed in 2003 in a similar operation.

The UP police received information about hideouts from Khalid, a criminal with a reward of Rs20,000 from Sultanpur in UP. An STF official says that Khalid had been
hiding in Mumbai before his surrender.

Similarly, the arrest of Azam Qureshi, a criminal from Azamgarh with a reward of Rs5,000, also yielded information about UP criminals’ hideouts in Mumbai.

Imran, another notorious criminal from UP’s Bahraich district, was also arrested from Mumbai. He had opened fire at a bakery in Mahim at the behest of dreaded gangster
Aijaz Lakdawala.

A senior police official quipps that these criminals might just be following the trend set by international don, Om Prakash Srivastava alias Babloo, who moved to Mumbai from Lucknow in the early 90s, and flew to Singapore from there.