E-Paper
Reward on alleged mining mafia who escaped into U’khand raised to ₹1 lakh
Zafar Ali, the alleged mining mafia , earlier carried a reward of ₹50,000 after he was declared wanted in connection with illegal confinement and misbehaviour with sub-divisional magistrate of Thakurdwara, Moradabad, Parmanand Singh and mining inspector Ashok Kumar on September 13.
Lucknow The Uttar Pradesh police on Friday increased the reward on the arrest of Zafar Ali, the alleged mining mafia who reportedly escaped during hot pursuit in Moradabad district on Wednesday night after entering Uttarakhand territory.
Moradabad senior superintendent of police (SSP) Hemant Kutiyal said the reward on Zafar Ali had been increased to ₹1 lakh after he was made wanted in another case of firing and attacking policemen chasing him in a previous case lodged against him. He said Ali earlier carried a reward of ₹50,000 after he was declared wanted in connection with illegal confinement and misbehaviour with sub-divisional magistrate of Thakurdwara, Moradabad, Parmanand Singh and mining inspector Ashok Kumar on September 13.
He said the Moradabad police had earlier registered an FIR invoking several sections of the IPC that covered rioting, harbouring an offender, resisting arrest, attempt to murder, dacoity, causing hurt to a public servant, criminal conspiracy and others against Zafar Ali and around 35 residents of Bharatpur near Jaspur town of Uddham Singh Nagar district.
Another police official, requesting anonymity, said Zafar Ali was still likely to be hiding in the same area and he had been associated with an influential local family for long. He said Ali had been working as the driver of the family and gradually joined the mining nexus under its patronage. He lived in Moradabad with his family but his entire family was missing since after the incident and efforts were on to trace them.
To note, police officials of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand traded charges on Thursday after registering cross-FIRs in connection with a cross-firing between the U.P. cops and the alleged sand mining mafia Zafar Ali in an Uttarakhand village. Gurpreet Kaur, the wife of a block pramukh and local BJP leader Gurtaj Singh Bhullar was killed and five police personnel were injured in the incident. The clash between the police and locals took place when a U.P. police team chasing Zafar Ali entered Bharatpur area of Uttarakhand on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, Uddham Singh Nagar SSP Manjunath TC said the Uttarakhand police had registered an FIR against 10-12 U.P. police personnel for murder and under other relevant sections of the IPC, on the complaint of the deceased’s husband at Kunda police station. He alleged that the U.P. police didn’t inform the local police though they had come to nab a criminal.
Contradicting the Uttarakhand police’s claims, the SSP said the Moradabad police had constantly kept their counterparts in the loop. “When the Moradabad police team reached there, Zafar was taken into custody. Later, the villagers forcibly took him away,” the SSP Moradabad had claimed.
Notably, the UP police claimed that the police team from Thakurdwara police station in Moradabad district raided the farmhouse of Gurtaj Singh Bhullar that falls under the Kunda police station limits on information that Zafar was taking shelter there. The UP police claimed that Bhullar, his father Sukhbinder Singh alias Chindar Singh and two uncles Jagtar Singh and Satnam Singh alias Satta had long crime records.
