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Criminal Syndicates Rule Rural Maharashtra

By Prabhat Sharan

03 February, 2011
The Verdictweekly

Corollary with the sudden spurt in the vehicular population and a jump
in the craze to possess large vehicles, the oil pilferers both in
Mumbai and in hinterlands who hitherto were considered as extremely
small and non-influential group in crime hierarchy, began climbing the
crime ladder at an exponential pace.

Criminal syndicates be it in sand or be it in adulterated oil or be it
in adulterated milk, they function with impunity in the interiors of
Maharashtra. Thanks to the political patronage they receive as quid
pro quo for providing election funds and muscle power.
Additional district collector’s murder on January 25, by oil
adulterating syndicate is a case in point, of the criminalization of
politics in Maharashtra. Even as the last rituals of Sonawane were
still being conducted and oil thieves reportedly scurrying into their
hideouts, the criminal syndicate again struck at the law enforcing
agents in Nagpur by bashing raiding police party members.

Not that the criminalization of politics is new to the nation or the
state, but the brazen attack on a state’s representative by the people
living on the fringes of law and the state’s hesitancy in tackling the
case indicates the intertwining of power interests between politics
and criminal syndicates.

Existence of criminal syndicates has always been a common phenomenon
in Mumbai from late sixties till early nineties when high seas
smuggling used to flourish. Thereafter, the hydra-headed criminal
syndicate changed its face following the de-reservation of land, into
becoming land sharks.

Corollary with the sudden spurt in the vehicular population and a jump
in the craze to possess large vehicles, the oil pilferers both in
Mumbai and in hinterlands who hitherto were considered as extremely
small and non-influential group in crime hierarchy, began climbing the
crime ladder at an exponential pace.

The result: Today the oil adulteration which primarily means: Pilfer
oil from the tankers enroute and after adulteration with subsidized
kerosene or diesel, sell it in the grey market for both vehicles as
well as agro-machines.

A conservative estimate of the monies in the oil adulteration business
is pegged over Rs 1000 crore and according to revenue officials, “The
reality just cannot be estimated because it is so large and has roots
into political structure itself. So how much money is black in the
elections or party coffers and how much is white, is like trying to
find out whether Zebra’s skin is black or white…”

And though it is a known but hardly spoken tacit fact that the rise
and fall of criminal syndicate is corollary to the rise and fall of
the political mentor, ironically, one of the key accused Popat Shinde
who had allegedly set Sonawane ablaze, was a common figure in every
political rally irrespective of political flag.

Prior to the rise of Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister
Chhagan Bhujbal’s son Pankaj Bhujbal in Nashik, Shinde was seen in the
support rally of Shiv Sena party which was in power then. Thereafter,
Shinde, a history-sheeter was at the forefront of Pankaj Bhujbal’s
rally.

Sharing dias with politicians Shinde was a force to reckon with in
northern Maharashtra region. He was one of the powerful figure in the
criminal oil syndicate, operating in Khandesh region, thanks to his
proximity with ruling party politicians and also media persons.
Like the underworld of Mumbai, the criminal syndicates operating in
Maharahstra hinterlands, openly flirted with media people, planting
baseless fictional stories with a dash of investigative flavor so as
to give it a veneer of authenticity.

A case in point is the recent report of Sonawane’s attempting to
collect bribe from Shinde. Gullible and by-line crazy reporters were
selected and deliberately doped with unsubstantiated stuff about the
murder being an outcome of an argument between Sonawane and Shinde
over the bribe amount.

The articles, according to senior journalists, from the region were
deliberately planted in national newspapers so as to deflect the issue
from the existence of criminal syndicates and their nexus with
politicians.

“The issue is not whether he (Sonawane) had anonymous complaints filed
against him in ACB (Anti-Corruption Bureau,) since it is very common
even for honest officers to have complaint filed against them not only
by corrupt fellow officers but also by gangsters…the issue here is, do
such complaints absolves or deny the existence and acts of criminal
syndicates. In fact, such reports also act as a subtle warning to
other honest officers,” says senior journalist Rakshit Sonawane,
Political Bureau Chief (Mumbai) Indian Express.

And it is precisely because of this very menacing existence of these
hydra-headed syndicates, honest officers from the revenue department
have sought official firearms like the one’s given to officers in
Customs.

Moreover, they have also sought an amendment in the quantum of
punishment and sentence imposed in Sec 353 of IPC dealing with assault
on public servant on duty, from two years of RI (rigourous
imprisonment) to five years of RI as well as a change in the
Externment Act. Law enforcing officers have asked that an externee
should be put into judicial custody if seen in the area from where he
or she is externed.

Even as the state government is still mulling over the demands, a
section of law enforcing officers are toying with the idea that the
accused so far taken into custody should be charged under sedition and
waging a war against nation since the killing was that of a state’s
representative.

Prabhat Sharan is a senior journalist and activist who regularly write
on media, crime, politics, environment, labour and human rights. He
can be contacted at [email protected]

 


 




 


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