‘It was like dacoity scenes of Chambal in Hindi movies’
Eye witnesses recount horror, complain about absence of night patrolling
LUCKNOW: With gunfire staccato and terrified screams rending the air, Kakori villagers said they felt they were living in the infamous Chambal region.
“It was almost like the dacoity scenes of Chambal that we have seen in Hindi movies. The only difference was that these dacoits were not riding horses; they were on foot,” said Shivanshu of Katauli village.
He is the son of one the victims of the dacoity carried out by over a dozen heavily armed men at Baniyakheda and Katauli villages of Kakori area here on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. Eye witnesses said the miscreants attacked villagers with firearms and rods, holding Baniyakheda hostage for over an hour. A village pradhan’s son was shot dead and nine others were injured before the criminals escaped with cash and valuables worth ₹10 lakh looted from five houses.
While an alert call brought a UP100 police response vehicle to Baniyakheda, the cops preferred to remain inside the vehicle after listening to the relentless sounds of the bullets being fired.
Meanwhile, helpless villagers ran helter-skelter and hid themselves wherever they could to save their lives.
The sound of gunfire could be heard even when senior superintendent of police (SSP), Lucknow, Deepak Kumar reached Baniyakheda at around 3.15am -- over an hour after the mayhem first began.
The villagers were so scared by then that they refused to come out of their houses even after the SSP arrived with the police force.
Shivanshu said soon after the police reached Baniyakheda, they rushed towards Katauli, but could not nab the miscreants.
However, signs of bedlam were there for all to see when senior police officers, including the inspector general (IG) of police, Lucknow Zone, Jai Narain Singh and others, visited the villages in the morning.
For one, blood stains and bullet shells were found in multiple spots.
A group of villagers accompanied the IG to explain to him the sequence of events. They also complained of absence of police patrolling at night despite the fact that these villages have always been vulnerable to such crimes.
Meanwhile, the SSP said that the combing operation was on for two hours, but the dacoits escaped under the cover of darkness. “Six police teams have been formed to work out the case and avert further such incidents. The teams are already on job. An FIR of Kakori dacoities has been registered based on Katauli village pradhan’s complaint.”
KAKORI POLICE STN INSPECTOR SUSPENDED
The SSP suspended the station officer of Kakori police station, Yash Kant Singh. He said the incident showed “sheer negligence of local police station in-charge in undertaking regular night patrolling”.
The SSP said that while he managed to reach the crime scene from Lucknow city, the local police could not reach even after getting multiple alert calls. “Subinspector Sanjay Pandey is the new police station in-charge and has been asked to intensify night patrolling in villages,” he said.
ADG ZONE CALLS ‘URGENT MEETING’
Alarmed with the back-to-back dacoities in Chinhat, Kakori and four places in adjoining Barabanki, the additional director general (ADG) of police, Lucknow zone, Abhay Prasad called an urgent meeting of police officers of Lucknow and neighbouring districts of Hardoi, Barabanki, Sitapur, Unnao and Raebareli.
The ADG said there were several similarities in all incidents in Lucknow and Barabanki districts that occurred over one month. “It is suspected that some gang from outside is loitering in this region and targeting houses and villages on the outskirts,” he said.
“Adjoining district police officers were alerted and asked to intensify night patrolling,” he said, adding, “Officers were also asked to conduct meetings of ‘gaon suraksha samiti’ (coordination committees for village security).”
He said officers needed to establish coordination among village pradhans and alert residents, village guards and local police to increase vigilance, especially during the night.