Criminalization of Politics in India

The unholy Politicians-Criminals-Bureaucrats and Police nexus

(Dedicated to Justice for late Padam Gurung)

PART-II

How deeply rooted this rot is? Has India just remained as a mute spectator? What have the designated counter agencies of both Centre and the state governments doing? The country woke up post the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on 6th December 1992, as widespread rioting and violence engulfed many parts of the country, especially Mumbai and on 12 March 1993, a series of blasts rocked Mumbai claiming 257 lives and thousand injured masterminded by the D-company, an international organized crime syndicate operated by the now elusive Dawood Ibrahim. The Bombay bomb blast cases  revealed extensive linkages of the underworld in the various governmental agencies, political circle, business sector and Bollywood.

This heinous act was not possible without the logistical support of the politician-bureaucrats-police nexus. Against such background, under tremendous public pressure, the government of India constituted a committee vide order no S/7937/SS/(ISP)/93, headed by the then Union Home Secretary, N.N. Vohra, with other members comprising of Secretary (Revenue), the Director of Intelligence Bureau (IB), the Director of the Central Intelligence Bureau (CBI), the Special Secretary (Internal Security and Police) The Committee was authorised to invite senior officers of various concerned departments at all levels to gather the required information.

The Vohra committee report was submitted on  5.10.93 to the government of India but when it was tabled in the parliament on 1st August 1995, the 100 page plus report was clipped to just 11 page only. Dinesh Trivedi, who was the then Rajya Sabha MP, even moved the Supreme Court, alleging that the document tabled in the Parliament is not the complete report as it suppresses vital information regarding the unholy connections between politicians, bureaucrats, criminals, and anti-social elements. Thus seeking the direction to the Union government to reveal the names of all bureaucrats, police officials, parliamentarians and judicial personnel against whom there was tangible evidence to enable action to be taken in accordance with law.

The then noted Lawyer, Shri Ram Jethmalani appeared for the petitioner contended that the plea of the Union government that 95% of the crimes are within the purview of the state government is an attempt to dilute the findings of the Vohra committee report he submitted. The supreme Court observed that it is reluctant to direct the disclosure of the all-important supporting material which consists of information gathered from the heads of the various intelligence agencies to the public. The Court feared that to do so may harm the agencies involved and to the conditions of assured secrecy and confidentiality under which they function. Rather, the matter  be addressed by a body which functions  with the highest degree  of independence being completely free  from every conceivable influence and pressure and finally recommended  for the formation of a high level committee to be appointed under the President of India on the advice of the Prime Minister in due consultation with the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

The committee formed was to carry out all possible findings on the Vohra Committee the Supreme Court observed. Yet only limited information on the Vohra committee report was de-classified such was the crime syndicates-government nexus that exists. However, the original report is believed to have contained that a parallel government was running within the powers of the criminal syndicate – government agencies nexus and the Intelligence Bureau  had named  leading politicians and bureaucrats who were the key players who helped the D-company from the 1970s till 1993. The report also stated that  mafia syndicates are into  narcotics, drugs and weapon smuggling, thereby establishing the narco-terrorism network in India.

However, the limited Vohra committee report tabled in the Parliament summed up the various inputs from the concerned agencies as follows: The Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) stated that it does not monitor the activities of criminal elements abroad, but is mainly confined to “normal smuggling without any links to terrorist elements but has deep focus on the links of these crime syndicates with the intelligence agencies of Pakistan especially and it suggested for the creation of a nodal agency to collect information regarding the activities of mafia organisations  and crime syndicates.

The CBI, reported that all over India, even in small towns and rural areas, muscle-men and hired assassins crime syndicates have become law unto themselves due to the nexus between the criminal gangs, police, bureaucracy and politicians. Worst still the existing criminal justice system is unable to deal with the activities of the mafias as the provisions of law is weak and there are near impossible impediments and associated legal difficulties in attaching/confiscation of the property acquired through mafia activities.  In 1986, the CBI had prepared a report on the nexus between the Mumbai Police and the under-world and the committee was advised to refresh the report to initiate legal remedy and to establish special cells in the States CIDs and CBI.

Director, IB  reported that the rise of the underworld-politician-bureaucrats nexus is due to the unethical/immoral public life prevailing in the country giving rise to heinous crimes as the Mumbai blasts. He further recommended that identification of the nexus between the criminals/mafias and anti-national elements on the one hand and bureaucrats, politicians and other sensitively located individuals on the other and there exists political and legal constraints in dealing with the covert/illegal functioning of the crime syndicates. The syndicates are sustained by the support of funding from illegal economic activities which operate with impunity as protected and sheltered by the unholy nexus.

The Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC); Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT); Enforcement Directorate (ED); Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and other main organs of the Union govt, submitted their respective reports to the Vohra committee too. Finally, amongst the main contents of the report, it stated that while considering the establishment of any nodal mechanism/special cell, "It must be appreciated that the problems has enormous impact on national security and is indeed highly political in nature”.

In this context, the committee  suggested that the nodal set up should be under the IB, which is even otherwise engaged in monitoring various political activities having a bearing on national security. The Vohra committee recommended that “an exclusive Top Secret Cell be established in the IB to function as the Nodal Group for receipt of inputs from various security/revenue agencies which reveal a politician-bureaucrat-underworld nexus. Such sharing will be through personal communications in writing, while operating difficulties could be sorted out through periodic meetings among the heads of these organisations to be chaired by the Home Secretary”. The Top Secret Cell will share all tactical and operational information with other concerned agencies on “need to know and act basis”.

Most importantly, the Vohra Committee report brought to the forefront the unusual high  cost of  contesting elections which makes the  politicians depend on the underworld crime syndicates for funding and thus the symbiotic unholy nexus between them exists for interdependence along with it.

After 27 years, in November, 2022, Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, an advocate  filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking to make public the complete report  as no action nor any follow up  has been initiated on the Vohra Committee Report submitted since 1993. In his petition, Upadhyay stated that the citizens have the right to know   and sought a direction to the Home Secretary to handover a true copy of the Vohra Committee Report along with the vital annexures and notes of  the NIA Director, CBI Director, ED Director, IB Director, SFIO Director, RAW Director, NCB Director, CBDT Chairman and Lokpal Chairperson to expose the names of the politicians-criminals-bureaucrats  nexus. But the public knows that the impasse will continue as nobody wants to bell the cat and worst still the country sinks further deeper into the hands of the crime syndicates- politician nexus.

The saga of criminalization of politics goes on as the Supreme Court just recently  questioned the Uttar Pradesh government on the cold blooded point blank shootout murder of the gangster cum politician, Atiq Ahmed and his brother which was on national TV live on the 15th of April 2023. There were 5-10 people guarding Atiq and his brother. “How can someone just come and shoot? Someone is complicit” said  the  apex Court and pulled up the U.P. government and directed to submit the status report on all the 183 police encounters since 2017 as the Yogi government aims to clean up the Mafia Raaj from U.P.

All these being some of the classic cases of criminalization of politics in India.

Sikkim woke up to the shocking news of the murder mystery of Padam Gurung, the president of the Student Representative Council, Namchi Government College,  in the early morning hours on the 28th of June, 2023 at Kazitar area of Namchi. What stunned the public was that the preliminary Namchi police report hinting that his death may have been caused when he was swept away by the overflowing drainage water due to the overnight torrential rain which never matched the  deep cut wounds he sustained in his forehead, as seen in the first visuals that was circulated in the social media. The case became more murkier when some witnesses of the incident released their audio accounts of the incident and recorded video too later and the Sikkim police were alleged to be suppressing such vital witness caught the attention of the whole state.

As the pressure mounted on the government, the Chief Minister announced the formation of the special investigation team (SIT) the one man inquiry commission led by retired High Court Chief Justice, of Sikkim, Shri N.K. Jain.  The public outcry and the dissatisfaction was clearly visible as Sikkim police resorted to lathicharge and tear gas the huge crowd gathered at Namchi on the 7th of August to demand for justice for the victim.

Sikkim is waiting for the results of the reports, which have been extended by the SIT since July 12th and further until August 12th, 2023. The deadline set by the One Man Commission has now passed, and there is a strong desire that this prolonged waiting will finally unveil the truth behind the demise of late Padam Gurung, bringing the much-awaited justice.

Preceding this heinous crime, another gruesome murder had taken place – a young school-going girl was abducted, raped, and killed within the forested terrain of Pangthang. Within a week, there was the unsettling discovery of the skeletal remains of a young school-going boy who had been missing for months, found on the outskirts of Gangtok. Over the past few years, Sikkim has been subjected to such distressing ordeals, with the crime rate experiencing a sudden and alarming increase in this otherwise peaceful and serene state.

The high security Tashiling Secretariat vandalized, doctor on duty stabbed to death in the New STNM hospital, another doctor and his team brutally attacked while on personal tour, travelling couple attacked in the NH-10. Most surprising the victims are taken into custody in most of the cases instead and the accused left scot-free.

And it doesn’t end here. Anything the government dislikes on the social media platforms, it pounces on its prey like they are terrorists. Worst still, Sikkim has been witnessing exponential rise in the proliferation of counter band substances across its borders and even a police officer was caught red handed with huge consignment of such substances.

The possibility of organized crime syndicates operating within Sikkim cannot be dismissed. It's conceivable that numerous dormant cells of insurgent groups are currently residing in Sikkim, possibly enjoying a leisurely stay along with part-time job opportunities. This speculation arises from the fact that a significant number of the public and private-space attacks exhibit a level of professionalism that cannot be easily disregarded.

Prominent deficiencies in governance within Sikkim are evident, even at the highest levels. This is illustrated by the appointment of two IPS officers as Director General of Sikkim Police during separate periods, despite ongoing departmental proceedings against them. Additionally, a senior civil servant from the state cadre was assimilated into the IAS cadre despite facing departmental proceedings. This accommodation was likely due to the Centre's privilege of sending three new IAS probationary recruits to Sikkim, indicating a mutually beneficial arrangement between the state government and the Central authorities.

They often say that the "Indian Police is always on duty," and the same can be said for our Sikkim police force. Adorned with numerous awards and accolades, the police represent the forefront of any government worldwide. The public consistently relies on them as the initial responders to distress and emergency calls.

The condition of police reporting in India reveals that in criminal investigations, around 60% of officers encounter obstacles from within their own department. Additionally, approximately 65% of them face political pressures, with 38% facing such pressures, particularly in cases involving influential individuals. This situation brings to mind the question posed by late Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer in 1980: "Who will police the police?"

CONCLUDED

(The author is SDF party spokesman. Views are personal. Email:  mksubba@gmail.com)