Case against ex-DSP, who slapped POTA on Mukhtar, withdrawn after 17 yrs

LUCKNOW : After nearly 17 years, the UP government has withdrawn a case of vandalism against former DSP, Shailendra Kumar Singh, who had invoked the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) against Mafioso-turned-MLA Mukhtar Ansari in January 2004, in Varanasi.

In February 2004, Singh had to resign from service under political pressure and a case of vandalism was slapped against him a few months later.

Singh said he received the court’s copy of the withdrawal of the case on Tuesday, which he shared on social media, thanking the UP government for it. He said the case had been withdrawn based on the report given by the assistant prosecution officer. The former DSP said he was harassed by the then government and his department bosses because of the action taken by him against Ansari and eventually had to resign and also face vandalism charges.

Singh said the chief judicial magistrate’s (CJM) court in Varanasi ordered the withdrawal of the case against him on March 6. The FIR against him was filed at the Cantt police station in Varanasi for allegedly creating a ruckus at the district magistrate’s office. Singh was arrested and sent to jail.

Asked whether he would rejoin the police force, Singh stated that he was busy with an organic farmhouse in rural Lucknow and quite happing with it.

Recalling the incident, a retired DIG said Singh was in-charge of the Varanasi unit of the UP STF. The force was vigilant about gangs of Mukhtar Ansari and Krishna Nand Rai, after a shootout between them in Lucknow in 2003 following which some suspicious mobile phone numbers were put on electronic surveillance.

“One suspicious conversation about a deal of providing a light machine gun (LMG) for ₹1 crore was intercepted by the STF. On the basis of this call, Singh claimed that Ansari was dealing with a fugitive army man to add LMG in his armoury,” the DIG said.

He said Singh and his team arrested two people from Varanasi’s Chaubepur and recovered the LMG and cartridges on January 25, 2004, after which the POTA case was filed against Ansari and his henchmen.