Madhya Pradesh police go soft on influential accused

BHOPAL: Local BJP leader Deependra Shrivastava, 32, was arrested on Monday. He is accused of murdering Sanjay Jain, 35, a resident of Roshanbagh Colony, and was on the run since November 10. Accused was produced in court on Tuesday and sent to jail. In normal practice, a person accused of heinous crimes, who evades arrest for long, is taken on police remand for interrogation to unravel the case.Shockingly, this norm was not applied on Shrivastava.
Accused revealed to police he visited several religious places in state and outside, including Tirupati Balaji and Rameshwar in past two months. Police claimed to have nabbed him from near Harda. It is one of several cases in which police in Madhya Pradesh have gone soft on high-profile accused, who have money and political muscle.
Jain was beaten to death by Shrivastava and his friends when he went to register his protest over assault on his cousin, Rahul. But, Shrivastava and his gang hammered Sanjay and his family members in return.
Jain then tried to approach police, but collapsed outside the police station and was later declared dead. Despite Jain’s family demanding lodging of a murder case against Shrivastava and his accomplices, Ashoka Garden police refused, stating a case would be registered only after autopsy.
On getting the body after autopsy, the Jain’s family members and local residents assembled outside Ashoka Garden police station and gridlocked the area. It was only after that, police booked Shrivastava.
In a damage-control exercise, officials later removed Ashoka Garden police station, SHO Purnendra Singh and declared a cash reward on Shrivastava, who is considered strongman of a local BJP MLA.
High profile accused and soft police investigation.
BJP MLA from Narsinghpur, Jalam Singh Patel — accused in a recent attempt to murder case — walked into the Assembly on December 10. Singh and his son, Mani Nagendra Singh, are wanted in a case of firing and rioting in Gotegaon in Narsinghpur on November 18.
After evading arrest for almost six years, the liquor baron Vinay Kedia got anticipatory bail in an abetment of suicide case of a property dealer registered in 2009 here. The police completed the bail formalities and released him two days back.
The influential realtor from Indore, Ranveer Singh Chhabra alias Bobby Chhabra was booked for rape a librarian on December 31, 2013 at Mahila Thana area. Uncertainty continues to prevail in case. The officials at Mahila Thana matter must be pending in court and they are unaware of it.
A congress MLA from Pushprajgarh in Anuppur, Phundelal Singh Marko, who is an accused in MPPEB scam, is yet to be arrested. He is one among the 925 accused who are on the run. The information was shared by Home Minister, Babulal Gaur in state assembly on December 9.
Police inspector, Upmanyu Saxena was booked on May 12 for goading his live in partner, Indu Sharma to commit suicide. After evading arrest for almost six months, Saxena surrendered before Misrod police on November 5.
TIMES VIEW
The long arm of the law sometimes chooses not to stretch out and nab some influential people. Even though the number of such cases is not alarming, but in a country where politicians in power do not tire of saying how law is equal for all, to sound politically correct, even the few who manage to be on the run is not a healthy sign. It is no secret how some influential accused manage to remain ‘safe’ from law enforcers. However, the shocking part is when someone attends the assembly session and still the police claim that they have not been able to track the accused down. If law enforcing agencies want to portray a good image then they should stop turning the proverbial Nelson’s eye in some cases.