Uttarakhand emerges as hideout for criminals from NCR, Punjab and Haryana

The recent arrest of three shooters in US Nagar district who were wanted in Haryana and had a bounty of Rs 50,000-1 lakh is the latest development among criminals from the aforementioned states hiding in Uttarakhand to escape the police in their respective states.

The arrests of wanted gangsters of Delhi-NCR, Punjab and Haryana hiding in the state seems to be a new challenge for the Uttarakhand Police, who want to do away with this emerging trend.

Earlier, in February this year, a wanted gangster by Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan police, Anil Pehelwan was arrested by Uttarakhand police while he was hiding in Dehradun. (HT FILE.)

The recent arrest of three shooters in US Nagar district who were wanted in Haryana and had a bounty of Rs 50,000-1 lakh is the latest development among criminals from the aforementioned states hiding in Uttarakhand to escape the police in their respective states.

Earlier, in February this year, a wanted gangster by Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan police, Anil Pehelwan was arrested by Uttarakhand police while he was hiding in Dehradun. He had a bounty of Rs 1 lakh on him. Before that in January 2018, another dreaded gangster from Punjab, Harsimrandeep Singh alias Simma with a Rs 2 lakh reward was arrested from the state.

Similarly, in one of the major arrests, two close aides of the infamous 2016 Nabha jailbreaker, Parminder Singh, were nabbed from Dehradun in the same year. The police had then said that the accused planned the daring jailbreak in Punjab’s Nabha in their hideout in Dehradun only.

Amid the arrests of the wanted gangsters from state, especially its capital city, senior superintendent of police Dehradun, Arun Mohan Joshi said, “It is not at all becoming a safe haven or hideout for the gangsters or northern states. Police have been keeping a tight vigil and meticulously examining people coming to stay here from outside.”

He said that in some cases it happens that criminals after committing a crime in their state or are wanted there, come here to hide but, “that doesn’t mean that it is becoming a safe haven.”

“Police here regularly carry out campaigns for tenant verification and act on any inputs about any suspected elements. Also, if you compare the number of wanted gangsters nabbed in other major cities in North, to ours, the number is very less,” said Joshi.

He, however, termed the arrest of gangsters in the city as a result of “tight vigil” of capital police.

“The gangsters hiding here from other states, were arrested by our police only which shows that we are working actively on the ground with efficiency,” said Joshi.

With low crime rate, gangsters think that police in Uttarakhand is inactive: Expert

On the arrest of wanted gangsters of other states hiding in Uttarakhand, former state director general of police, Aloke B Lal said in crime world usually the criminals hide in other states after committing a crime in their own state.

“They usually hide where they have their relatives or known persons. However, saying that, Uttarakhand also has a very low crime rate in comparison to its neighbouring states. This makes an impression in the criminals that the police might be less active or efficient which make them think that they can hide here,” said Lal.

“However, it is not at all true as our state police is as efficient as neighbouring states and UTs like UP, Delhi or Punjab. If it was not true then the gangsters hiding wouldn’t have been nabbed here,” he said.

Sharing database of criminals is important

The retired DGP added that to prevent the state from being a safe haven for the wanted gangsters of other states, sharing of criminals’ database is the key.

“In US, the authorities have an extensive database of the criminals which is shared by their state police departments. In India, it is under development at present. Once it’s done, it would be vital for one state police to nab criminals wanted in other states,” said Lal.

Arresting gangsters proves police’s efficiency: DG (law & order)

Director general (law & order), Uttarakhand police, Ashok Kumar however, termed the arresting of criminals and gangsters of other states in Uttarakhand as “proof of state police’s efficiency.”

“These arrests don’t prove that our state is becoming a safe haven for gangsters of states like Punjab, Haryana and Delhi UT. In fact, it proves that our police is fully alert and on vigil which resulted in these arrests,” said Kumar.

He added, “We are keeping extra vigil in our border districts including Haridwar, US Nagar and Dehradun.”