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Dacoit Dadua's kin threatens Pratapgarh SHO
A threat was issued to the Patti Kotwali SHO by SP candidate Bal Kumar, brother of dreaded dacoit Dadua for hurting the latter's supporters, reports Rajesh Kumar Singh.
"Darogaji main itne lashey gira dongaa ki app gintee huai thak jaonge," (police station in-charge, I will kill so many people that you would get tired of counting dead bodies). This is not a dialogue of a Bollywood villain, but the threat issued to the Patti Kotwali SHO by Samajwadi Party candidate Bal Kumar, brother of dreaded dacoit Shiv Kumar Patel alias Dadua on Thursday.
Bal Kumar, contesting from Patti, stormed the police station to threaten the police of dire consequences. Dadua was enraged over a minor scuffle between the SP and BJP workers in Sarsati village, in which his supporter was injured. “Take action against those who dared to touch my men” Bal Kumar directed the SHO Lallan Sharma.
Not ready to listen Sharma’s argument that FIR would be lodged only after the preliminary inquiry, Bal Kumar thundered, "You know who I am and what I can do. Do not blame me if my supporters go on rampage". The hapless SHO surrendered and directed the junior officer to lodge the FIR. "You just wait and see what I do to the supporters of the rival political parties", Bal Kumar warned the police while walking out of the police station.
When contacted SDM, Patti, Jai Shankar Tripathi told HT that he would inform the Election Commission about the lax attitude of the police men in controlling the activities of Balkumar.
Terror is stalking Patti constituency where the “flag march” is not by the security forces but by the heavily armed Dadua’s men to brow beat the poor villagers to vote for the SP. Ramesh of village Kansa Patti told HT that large number men carrying sophisticated weapons took round of the entire village and issued instructions to vote for Dadua’s brother. "We have received the farman (order) of Dadua to cast vote in favour of Bal Kumar," Ramesh confided to this correspondent.
Similarly, in village Bahuta Ram Kumar Kurmi said the people had not option to unwillingly vote for Bal Kumar. However he said caste factor could also work in Bal Kumar’s favour. In Kothariya, village pradhan Deena Nath too accepted about the 'diktats' of Dadua to the villagers.
The situation was no different in Saraspur, Palmapur, Maudha Garaidi and Basauli. Raj Kumar of Maudha said that Dadua’s son Bir Singh held a panchayat on last Tuesday and said his father would soon visit the area to campaign for Bal Kumar.
Scared of Dadua’s name, Raj Kumar said, "We do not care which party had fielded Bal kumar the order of Dadua matters more". The villagers said Dadua’s gang members had already infiltrated in the constituency. “Some strangers were frequenting the villages to campaign for Bal Kumar”, Raj Kumar said.
Armed with weapons Bir Singh, who is Zila Panchayat chairman Chitrakoot has bee roaming around in the areas. In Bibipur, the villagers said that Bir Singh had told them that Dadua would also visit them soon.
Apart from terrorising the people, the SP candidate has also been distributing small gifts like bags, scarfs, caps, T-shirts to keep the villagers in good humour. But the district administration has turned blind eye to the violation of the model code of conduct.
However, moving Ford Endeavour and long cavalcade Balkumar denied that he was terrorising the people or that Dadua had issued orders in his favour. "I am contesting election on development agenda and have told the people that after winning election, I will launch several development schemes," he said.
