Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath.
Highlights
- Over 50 criminals surrendered in two weeks after BJP returned to power in Uttar Pradesh
- Several illegal encroachments have also been removed with bulldozers
- More than 50 criminals have not only surrendered but also pledged to shun crime
Over 50 criminals have given themselves up to police in two weeks after the BJP returned to power in Uttar Pradesh, an official said Monday.
Reports from various parts of the state also suggest several illegal encroachments have been removed with bulldozers which many consider now a new emblem of the Yogi Aditynath government.
Visuals of many absconding criminals walking to police stations with placards hanging around their necks with messages like “I am surrendering, don't shoot me, please!”, surfacing on social media show the panic among history-sheeters, officials said.
Bulldozers, symbolizing tough action against the criminals and mafias, had resonated throughout the UP elections earning Adityanath the sobriquet of "Bulldozer Baba".
More than 50 criminals have not only surrendered but also pledged to shun crime in the past over a fortnight, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar told PTI on Monday.
Two criminals were killed in encounters and many others have been arrested during the period, he added.
Reports from different parts of the state suggest consistent deployment of bulldozers to clear encroachments and demolition of illegal properties.
The heavy machine used for razing properties, acquired by people with criminal antecedents with proceeds of their crimes, during the last five years reflected the Adityanath government’s "zero tolerance towards crime".
In his election speeches, Adityanath used to say the bulldozers have gone for maintenance and will again roll out after March 10 (declaration of results).
The latest “fear of bulldozers” among history-sheeters was triggered after a hardcore criminal Gautam Singh, accused of many kidnapping and extortion cases, surrendered in the Chhapla police station in Gonda district on March 15.
Close on the heels of this, nearly two dozen criminals lined up at a police station in the Saharanpur district, promising never to commit crimes.
Subsequently, news came of four liquor smugglers surrendering in Deoband and so was the case of many criminals in Shamli.
A glaring instant came from Pratapgarh last week, where a rape case accused surrendered on his own four days after raping a woman in a toilet near the Railway station. The accused gave him up after the police parked a bulldozer in front of his house.
The Auraiya district administration on Monday cleared shops built illegally on government land in a market there.
Similarly, on the eve of Holi, the administration had demolished shops on an encroached piece of land in the Mainpuri district.
The ADG said there is a clear-cut instruction to show no leniency towards criminals and mafias.
The strict approach of the state government was also exhibited on March 6 when the illegal structure built by a close associate of muscleman-politician Mukhtar Ansari was razed in Lucknow.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said in clear-cut terms in the state legislative assembly last year that houses for the poor would be built on land freed from mafias.
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