Satyamev Jayate - Promise fulfilled and Justice delivered

On 15th Dec 2022 about 0815 PM Khekhra Police station of district Baghpat got the information that a 6 year old kid Shaurya Daagar had been missing since 0515 PM while coming from coaching in Fakharpur village. Police immediately started the search operation. Entire village also joined this.

We scanned all the cameras of the village and on all the routes getting out from the village. All sugarcane fields were searched. Drone was used, dog squad was used. More than 100 police personnel continued search operation for about 5 days but got no clue. Myself and my additional SP Manish Mishra while interrogating a suspect even analyzed his excreta in the sugarcane field to ascertain how old it is. We got fake calls that the kidnapped kid was seen in Loni, Delhi and other places. We even declared 50,000 Rs cash prize for giving any information about the kid.

We then switched our focus on close family members of the kid and interrogated them and verified their statements and soon we found a clue. Based on that we recovered the body of the kid buried in a field. He was killed within 10 minutes of his kidnapping and body was buried with his school bag. The motive behind this kidnapping/murder was to demand ransom from recently retired grandfather of the kid.

We arrested all three killers (Vineet, Akshit and Danny) on 20th Dec 2022. Vineet and Akshit were Shaurya's family members. Vineet was the son of the brother of Shaurya's grandfather Jagveer Singh. We did a thorough scientific investigation and filed the chargesheet within 24 days.

Local media reporter Devendra Chauhan did an excellent video coverage of the workout and captured the emotions perfectly. This video was recorded immediately after recovering the dead body of the kid.

 

I have never seen entire district coming together like one family and in many villages the food was not made and people did not eat anything. In many villages people gave 'shradhanjali' to the kid by lighting candles and taking processions. There was so much outrage on social media as well as on streets in this case. We took it as a challenge to ensure speedy justice in this case.

The trial started in March and after many arguments and cross examinations finally on 15th December 2023 Honourable Court found accused Neeraj alias Danny and Vineet guilty on exactly the same date when kid was murdered and on 20th Dec 2023 Honourable court awarded them life imprisonment on the same date when his body was found. God works in mysterious ways. The remaining accused will be prosecuted as a juvenile.

Shaurya grandfather Jagvir Singh ji called me on the day of judgment and he was so emotional and so was I. It was a moment every policeman lived for. Very rare it happens when we can see justice being delivered within a year in such a heinous crime. 

My entire team - Additional SP Manish Mishra, SO Khekhra Ravindra Rana, SOG incharge Ravendra Palawat, CO Vijay Chaudhary, Inspector Tapeshwar Saagar and all ranks of Baghpat Police deserve lot of appreciation for the hardwork, commitment and patience they have shown.

Entire prosecution team of Baghpat deserves a lot of credit and so does the Baghpat Police for monitoring this case so diligently. For me it will remain proudest and most satisfying day of my little more than 8 years of Police career. Faith in team and law always gives favourable results. 

 

On 26th Dec Shri Jagveer Singh (Dadaji of Shaurya), his Nanaji and few villagers came to my office in Bijnor and gave me a Shaurya photo frame memorabilia. It was a very emotional and heart wrenching moment for us all. This is far far greater than any award or appreciation that i have received so far in my life. I pray to God that no family should see tragedy like this.   

 

#SatyamevJayate

Bijnor Diaries : Kartik Poornima Mela

Taking holy dip in mother Ganga is considered highly meritorious and pious activity in Indian tradition. Mother Ganga since her advent by Bhagirath's effort has been the bedrock of our civilization. Countless sages, kings and ordinary persons have found motherly love in her heart. Its a rare luck and privilege that i have always found myself very close to mother Ganga. My Janmbhoomi (Kanpur), Gyanbhoomi (Varanasi) and now Karmbhoomi (Bijnor) all are situated close to mother Ganga. I was never a Karmakandi kind of person and i never followed strict adherence of any ritual but i always enjoy and cherish the living traditions of our faith and civilization like Ram Leela, Kaanvad Yatra, Ganga Snan Mela etc.

 

Mother Ganga enters Uttar Pradesh from Uttarakhand at Haridwar-Bijnor border and from there it makes the western border of Bijnor. Numerous temples, ghats and places of religious significance dot this border. The most famous are Vidur Kuti in Bijnor, Shukartal in Muzaffarnagar and Garh Mukteshwar in Hapur.

 

 

'Vidur Kuti Ganga Snan Mela' during Kaartik Poornima is of huge significance for people of Bijnor. This year it started on 23rd Nov and completed on 27th Nov (on Kartik Poornima). We made elaborate arrangements for this Mela and it was never boring. I actually enjoyed being part of this Mela. A large number of people from all castes and almost all age groups came to attend this Mela. As per my conservative estimates about 3-4 lakhs people took dip in Ganges. There were shops and there were shivirs and there were camps. Many thousands made their own tent and stayed in Mela for 3-4 days. There were buffaloes, cattle and there were tractors too. There was no fight, no rush and no drama. All came with faith in mother and mother showered love to all without any discrimination. On one side of Ganga ji is Muzaffarnagar district. According to Mahabharata, Mahatama Vidur crossed Ganga ji from Hastinapur Kingdom and lived his life in a Kuti (Cottage) on the bank of Ganga ji (in Bijnor) when the war started hence it is called Vidur Kuti. 

 

Apart from this great Mela there are other melas too in Bijnor viz Balabali Ganga Mela (Mandawar PS) and Nangal Ganga Mela (Nangal PS). These two melas are also at the bank of Ganga ji and are north of Vidur Kuti bordering Haridwar district of Uttarakhand.

Narnaur Mela in Chandpur PS area (Jaleelpur Block) is also a big mela. This borders Hastinapur. As Ganga ji shifted its course so now this Mela is organized in the territory of Meerut but this time Bijnor Police did all the arrangements.

People of Bijnor are very friendly, humble, polite and religious. It gives an immense sense of satisfaction to work among them and try to make their lives little more comfortable. After all blessings of mother Ganga is always there for all of us.

The ghosts of 2003 returned to haunt us again................

23rd March 2003 i can never forget. This was the day when Australian team thrashed our team and our hopes at Johannesburg in the World Cup Final. I was in B. Tech second year (Computer Science branch, IT-BHU) then. We thoroughly enjoyed the Indian team campaign. It started on a very bad note with two pathetic matches against Australia and Netherlands. Against Australia we scored just 125 runs (all out) and against Netherlands we were just 204 runs. Effigies of our players Sourav, Sachin etc were burned, their homes were pelted with stones and some passionate fans even performed the last rites of our team. 

 

Soon our team regrouped and under the leadership of Captain Sourav we started decimating our opponents in every match. We defeated Zimbabwe by 83 runs, Namibia by 181 runs, England by 82 runs and Pakistan by 6 wickets. Ashish Nehra was the Hero against England and he took 6 wickets for 23 runs. Till then i have not seen such an awesome Indian fast bowling.

 

 Sachin's inning against Pakistan has become legend in itself. Sachin hitting Caddick for a mighty six was another highlight. Our campaign continued in super six - defeated Kenya by 6 wickets, Sri Lanka by 183 runs and New Zealand by 6 wickets. Our semi final against Kenya was also a cakewalk with superb inning by Sourav Ganguly.

 

Our excitement knew no bounds and our entire batch like every Indian expected dream win on 23rd March. We made stories finding some random patterns connecting Prince Charles, Pope and Indian team winning world Cup. Zaheer Khan was too much excited in its very first over and this actually exposed our nervousness and our inexperience of not playing finals. Australia on other hand had played 1996 final and 1999 final. Most of the key members of 1999 World Cup winning team also played 2003 final (Ponting, McGrath, Adam Gilchrist etc). This inexperienced and wayward bowling by inform Zaheer Khan and Srinath cost us that match. Match was formally over in first over of Indian inning when Sachin was caught and bowled by McGrath. Though we continued praying as we were catching up with DL score in case if rains but rain also failed us. It was a hugely depressing and demoralizing defeat. We did not smile for few days and our smile only came back when we went on to level Test Series in 2003-04 tour of Australia and defeating Pakistan in Pakistan. Our calculations with what if Sachin had scored century, what if Sehwag was run out, what if it rained in the final and WHAT IS SOURAV DECIDED TO BAT FIRST AFTER WINNING THE TOSS continues....

 

Our team in 2023 World cup was a balanced team but i was always skeptical about Gill, Iyer and Surya Kumar. I had a hunch that they will fail when we need them the most. I discussed this my friends and they almost agreed with me. This world cup campaign was a superb and best world cup campaign by any Indian team. We decimated every team in this world cup including Australia. The energy and team spirit was infectious. 

 

Our group (IT-BHU in between became IIT-BHU) regathered virtually on social media and we were so sure that this time we will take revenge of 2003 loss. But in this most crucial match our middle and lower order batsmen did not rise up to the occasion and we were 40-50 runs short easily. When boundaries are not coming we should have taken single but in this match even singles were not coming easily. Surya Kumar made a big mockery of himself and he has been the biggest disappointment of this World Cup. Even after taking top three wickets our body language were not good enough and we were giving them easy singles. We did not field with the same passion as Australians did.

No words can describe the sinking feeling of all those college going kids of 2003. That final wound never healed and this loss has made it permanent. I have no idea when that 'miracle' will happen when we will defeat Australia in World Cup Final. I hope that we should be able to see it in our own life time. 

 

Thanks Rohit for batting selflessly throughout this World Cup and leading the team with so much passion. As they say 'Some goals are so worthy that it is glorious even to fail' so be it. Thanks Virat for virat memories. Thanks Shami for greatest world cup bowling performance ever, Thanks Rahul, Iyer, Jadeja, Bumrah, Kuldeep and every member of the team. You all have become immortals.

Perhaps we are a country that finds solace in her own defeats. We are a country that find hope and victory even in our most shattered losses.

Hope we will come back.......

No more collapse this time please

'Invincible' will take on ultimate Challenger in 2023 World Cup Semifinal at Mumbai and die hard fans of Indian Cricket will also have a testing time. I have been following Indian Cricket from age 7 and i have faint memories of 1992 World cup when star studded Indian team failed to qualify for Semi Final.

We started really well in 1996 but comprehensively defeated by Sri Lanka first in league match that also destroyed the career of Manoj Prabhakar. We recovered and destroyed Pakistan in superb Quarter Final at Bangalore. The first of the series of collapses that Indian team faced in almost every world cup started in 1996 Semi Final. We collapsed from 98/1 to 120/8 throwing our chances in Bay of Bengal. 

Second collapse occurred in Do or Die match against Australia in 1999 World Cup. Chasing 283 our top order (Sachin, Ganguly, Dravid and Azhar) collapsed and we lost 4 wickets at the score of 17 runs. We collapsed for the third time in another Do or Die match this time against Sri Lanka in 2007 World Cup. We were 98/3 and within few overs we lost three major wickets we were down to 112/6 and lost the match.

We were miraculously saved by Gautam Gambhir in 2011 World Cup Final against Sri Lanka. Chasing 275 we lost Sachin (18 runs) and Sehwag (0 run) too early. It was mainly because of Gambhir and later super knock by Dhoni that we won the Cup.

Our Invincible team was awesome in 2015 World cup but another collapse hit us in the most crucial Semi Final against Australia. From 76/0 we collapsed to 108/4 throwing our chances in Pacific. This was our fourth collapse.

And no one can forget the last World Cup collapse in Semi Final against New Zealand. Chasing 240 our top order completely collapsed and one time we were 5/3 and later 92/6. This was for the first time we fought back and i can never forget the greatest counter attack inning played by Sir Ravindra Jadeja ably supported by Dhoni. Run out of Dhoni caused all of us to cry. This was our only match since 1996 that we fought back though lost it in the end but it was a match to remember.

These five setbacks caused us so much pain that it makes us very worried about tomorrows match. We have a very good team. Our batting, bowling and fielding are clicking well and there is no chink in our armor. We need to win big this time to bury all the past ghosts in a big hole. Let the game begin....