The Hindustan Times, October 19, 1998
Haryana reeling under crime wave
ROHTAK, Oct. 18 (From Soni Sangwan)
When a petrol pump owner was abducted from Jhajjar, the Haryana Police had to call in the National Security Guards personnel for his rescue. Early last week, Sant Lal Pahwa, who owns a petrol pump, was rescued from the fields in a nearby village by a team of NSG commandos. After the rescue operation was over, the local police managed to arrest one of the suspects. The incident underlines the deteriorating law and order condition in the State and the shortcoming of the local police which compelled it to seek additional help to cope with the crime. Haryana, so far considered a peaceful and relatively crime-free State, is at present reeling under an intense crime wave. While the Sonepat border has gained notoriety following the attacks by extortionists - an indication that organised crime was prevalent - on industrialists in the area, Rohtak too now figures on the dangerous area's list after the car of a minister's son was attacked. In August, Jitender Lathar, son of Haryana Minister Sat Narain Lathar, was returning to Delhi in his new Maruti car when he was overtaken by a jeep carrying armed men. Barely a few kilometres from Rohtak, they stopped the jeep in front of his car and forced him out and sped away with the car. The four suspects were arrested the next day and the car was recovered. According to reports, a gang of highway robbers gained notoriety in the area under Kundli post, the first Haryana police check-point out of Delhi, after it looted several vehicles using a unique modus operandi. The gang members, led by Naresh alias Nishi, would stay in hiding while a female member would stop trucks and cars on the pretext of seeking a lift. After the vehicle stopped, the other gangsters would appear and overpower the persons in the vehicle and decamp with valuables. Interestingly, if the gang was unable to find a woman willing to help them in their operation, a male member would dress as a woman and do the needful. "On one occasion, they not only looted rice worth Rs 5 lakh, but also took away the truck that was ferrying the rice consignment. We were able to recover the truck from Samalkha," an officer said. While the gauche first-timers of Haryana seems to have become sophisticated criminals, the police continue to pull along without any modern crime fighting gadgets. "Our police post caters to 18 villages and a long stretch of the national highway. We have no telephones, only one jeep, which does not work, and one motorcycle. The only means of communication in this wireless set. In case of any incident, we are informed on the set and try to reach there as soon as we can. To do so, we often have to resort to taking lifts," an officer said. Without categorically stating that former bootleggers were playing a key role in crime, the police refused to discount their responsibility for the crime wave. "We have found some connections between the liquor mafia and the criminals. We have arrested a few, but cannot say that all crime incidents have been traced back to bootleggers," an officer said.
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