Experts: Kasganj attack again shows police ill-preparedness during raids
LUCKNOW: The incident of a liquor kingpin and his henchmen holding police personnel hostage and beating them, resulting in the death of constable Devendra Jasawat and grievous injuries to sub-inspector Ashok Pal at a Kasganj village on Tuesday has yet again exposed the ill-preparedness of the state police in raiding the hideouts of criminals, police experts have said.
It is not the first incident where a police team has been pelted with bricks and stones during a raid on those behind the making of illicit liquor.
In a similar attack, a sub-inspector and two constables were seriously injured in Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh on April 10, 2020. Nine incidents have been reported since April 2020 where mobs or criminals have attacked police teams in different parts of the state, leading to injuries and deaths.
According to experts, the question arises as to why only two policemen went in search of notorious history-sheeter and illicit liquor mafia kingpin Moti Singh Dhimar, who is facing 11 criminal cases.
Similar questions surfaced in the findings of the three- member Special Investigation Team constituted to investigate the reasons for Kanpur’s Bikru ambush case, in which dreaded gangster Vikas Dubey and his men gunned down eight policemen, including a deputy superintendent of police, and left seven others injured, on July 3, 2020.
Retired UP director general of police (DGP) Arvind Kumar Jain said it was a very unfortunate incident and now senior police officers should take the responsibility to lead such raids or form proper teams for these operations. He said the state police officials should take lessons from these incidents to avert attacks and ambushes in future.
He explained that when the administration and police tightened the noose around criminals, frustration and retaliation was expected from them. So, police teams should be well prepared while raiding or visiting their hideouts, he suggested.
Another senior police official said the visuals shared by some television channels show that liquor was brewed illegally on a large scale at the site which the two policemen visited in Kasganj. “It is not possible that such large-scale manufacturing could be done without the connivance of some local cops and excise personnel. Moreover, the police personnel would have apprehended such a response from people involved in illegal activities,” he said.
IT IS NOT THE FIRST INCIDENT WHERE A POLICE TEAM HAS BEEN PELTED WITH BRICKS AND STONES DURING A RAID