LUCKNOW: Dreaded dacoits Shiv Kumar Dadua and Jagjivan Singh Parihar along with the Purvanchal mafia don Brijesh Singh on Thursday became UP's "most wanted" when the State Government increased the reward money on them to Rs. 5 lakh each. Earlier, Dadua and Brijesh Singh carried a reward money of Rs. 2 lakh each and Parihar Rs. 1 lakh.

This was announced by the State Principal Secretary (Home), Satish Agarwal, and Director-General of Police, Bua Singh, who brushed aside allegations of failure of the police force to nail these desperadoes and claimed that the enhanced reward money would serve as a motivation for the policemen engaged in anti-dacoity and anti-crime operations.

Dadua and Parihar were active in the inhospitable Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh bordering Madhya Pradesh. Wanted in around 100 cases of dacoity, murder, loot, extortion and kidnapping for ransom, the brigands have been eluding the police dragnet for several years.

Dadua, who operates in the jungles of Paatha region in Manikpur in Banda district and in Chitrakoot district, has been active for the past 34 years; it was in 1972 that he jumped into the ravines to settle scores with his tormentors. Not only was he the longest surviving criminal in UP, Dadua enjoyed a cult-status among his Kurmi Backward Class kinsmen in Banda, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur and Fatehpur districts.

The brigand also had political interests. In the 2002 U.P. elections, Dadua threw his weight behind the Bahujan Samaj Party. His younger brother, Bal Kumar, contested the polls against senior Samajwadi Party leader, Reoti Raman Singh (presently MP from Allahabad) from Karchana Assembly constituency in Allahabad district in the 2002 elections. After the formation of the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, Dadua switched his political loyalties to the SP and was instrumental in getting his son Veer Singh elected as the Samajwadi Party zila panchayat chairman of Chitrakoot.

Alleged mafia don Brijesh Singh had his base in Varanasi but has been underground for the last decade. The police force operating in the Purvanchal region (eastern UP) of the State had no clue of his whereabouts.

Brijesh Singh was once upon a time a close friend of the Independent MLA from Mau, Mukhtar Ansari, before the two became sworn enemies. An accused in last year's Mau communal riots, Ansari was lodged in Ghazipur jail.

Apart from Dadua, Parihar and Brijesh Singh, the reward money on some other wanted criminals has also been increased. These are: Sunil aka Sanjay Paul, from Rs.50,000 to Rs. 1 lakh; Munna Bajrangi, an accused in MLA Krishnanand Rai murder case, from Rs.1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh; Kamlesh Chaudhary, from Rs.20,000 to Rs. 1 lakh; Satyendra Singh alias Sapola, from Rs.50,000 to Rs. 1 lakh; Thokia alias Ambika alias Doctor, from Rs.1 lakh to 3 lakh; and Atiq, son of Bashir, from Rs.1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh.

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