Other States - Uttar Pradesh   

Criminal gangs target PWD engineers in U.P.

Special Correspondent

Police have identified two gangs which excel in extortion and taking lucrative contracts

LUCKNOW: Criminal gangs operating in Purvanchal (Eastern Uttar Pradesh) have made life miserable for PWD and Irrigation Department engineers. Though the exact number of the gangs was not known, the police have identified two gangs which excelled in extortion and their gang members also taking lucrative contracts. These gangs are led by Hanuman Shukla and Vineet Singh.

An active member of the Hanuman Shukla gang, Ramesh Chandra Pandey, was gunned down by the Special Operation Group of the UP police in an encounter at Daddupur village under the Cantt. Police station area in Faizabad this morning.

Principal Secretary, Home, SK Agarwal and DG Police, Bua Singh, told newsmen that the 25 years old Ramesh Pandey was named in 13 criminal cases and had been active since 2002. The criminal had shot dead an executive engineer of Irrigation Department, Raj Kumar Sharma, in Harraiya in Basti district on May 9 last over a row over making fake payment to an accomplice of the gangster. Mr Agarwal said, a police constable, Ramesh Chandra Upadhyaya, was injured in a scuffle with the criminal.

He said the deceased belonged to the Hanuman Shukla gang whose other identified members were Ashish Tripathi, Bunty Singh Baghel, Deepak Shukla and Vijay Tewari. Mr Agarwal said the gang operated in Basti, Gonda, Faizabad and Siddhartnagar districts and procured road building and canal lining contracts for the gang members and their candidates at gun point. He added that in the past some engineers have been killed by the gangsters.

While the gang leader was incarcerated in Basti jail, Ashish Tripathi was recently shot dead by the Special Task Force of UP police in Lucknow. Stating that the PWD and Irrigation engineers were living in constant fear, Mr Agarwal said the development of Purvanchal suffered due to deep inroads made by the gangsters in the contract business. He stated the Hanuman Shukla gang was operating since 2002, but denied that it enjoyed political patronage. The DGP added, had the gangs and their members enjoyed political patronage then 210 criminals would not have been killed by the police since he took over as the state police chief about five months back.

Mr Singh said the other Purvanchal ganglord, Vineet Singh , and his cohorts were active in Varanasi division.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Kashi Vishwanath temple to glitter with gold ornaments
Criminal gangs target PWD engineers in U.P.
Fresh polio case reported

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu