IN THE LAND OF FEAR

It was a switch 52-year-old Dadua alias Shiv Kumar Patel made from dacoity over a decade ago. In fact, the politics of the area revolved around him and no gram pradhan could be elected without his consent. “For campaigning the party leaders merely went and met Dadua in the jungle. He then released a proclamation in support of the political party of his choice on his letterhead titled Dasyu Samrat Dadua,” says Avdesh Samrat, pradhan of Ainchwara village.

Dadua was a BSP supporter till 2004 and enjoyed absolute freedom under Mayawati’s tenure. “He openly travelled in jeeps and even organised an orchestra 3 km from the police lines, but no one dared to touch him,” say villagers in Deokali.

“So why did Dadua die during Mayawati’s tenure?” asks Moolchand Gupta, another villager. It was, as is widely believed, because Dadua withdrew his support to the BSP during the last assembly elections as the party failed to give a ticket to his brother Bal Kumar. Dadua switched over to the Samajwadi Party and Kumar contested the election from Pratapgarh constituency as its candidate. On May 12 this year, Kumar was arrested under the Gangster Act and is lodged in Rai Bareli jail.

“If Bundelkhand is considered a bastion of the BSP, it is due to my father,” says Dadua’s 26-year-old son, Veer Singh. “He is the one who laid BSP’s foundation here by campaigning for it for over a decade. His only fault was that he ended his support. If he had continued, they wouldn’t have conspired to kill him,” says the man who has been elected unopposed as the zila parishad chairman of Chitrakoot this year.

But much before Dadua entered politics, he was a robber, murderer, extortionist and a dacoit. It began in 1975, when he committed a robbery in Kaushambi district. On May 16, 1978, he was arrested for the first and last time by the Uttar Pradesh Police for murder. After his release from jail, he joined the interstate gang run by Raja Rangoli. Dadua took over when Rangoli was killed in 1983, and eventually formed his own IS 112 gang in 1984. His name may have changed over the years—Dasyu Samrat, Bhaiya ji, Malik—but the Kurmi from Deokali village of Chitrakoot district evoked the same horror in all the villages in the area.

His was an empire that comprised forests vegetated densely with tendu trees and bamboo, and picturesque rivulets in the mountains surrounding Chitrakoot, where he almost always travelled by foot with his gang. Roads ended much before his territory began, making it difficult for the police to venture here. Red gravel paths lead to the villages, most of which are a cluster of mud-thatch houses. Electricity or public transport is unheard of.

Surprisingly then, a well-tarred road leads to Deokali, unlike many in the neighbouring villages. It also got electricity in 1991, much before the others, and even has a college. “The administration makes you go back and forth and you have to bribe the babus for the electricity connection. But if you went to Dadua, your work was done in a minute,” says Girija Shankar Singh of Deokali. Dadua’s prime earning came from the tendu leaf trade. During summer, in the forest belt around Chitrakoot, tendu leaves are collected and every contractor had to give a fixed amount of commission to Dadua to be allowed to enter the forest. “He was in the white collar crime for the past 10-15 years. Dadua also earned through all the government projects in the area. No one could construct a road or even a bridge without paying a hefty commission to Dadua,” says Preetender Singh, SP, Chitrakoot. For practically everything, even taking a jeep to Manikpur town 25 km away, Dadua’s permission was required.

According to unconfirmed sources, Dadua earned over Rs 10 crore every year through extortion, kidnapping and the cut from government funds. “Several government contractors and engineer also cashed in on Dadua’s name. If Dadua’s name was involved, senior officers did not even bother to question the fund allocation,” says Subash Chand Sharma, District Magistrate, Chitrakoot.

The gang was well supplied with ammunition and comprised 10 people, of whom only four survived the encounter. The operational head of the gang, 6.2-ft-tall Angad was also killed. Chitrakoot is now worried about the splinter groups left behind by Dadua and the big question is who will fill the vacuum. If the rumblings in the fearful villages around Chitrakoot are to be believed, Radhey or Subedar, who was also the right hand man of Dadua, will inherit his legacy.

The 40-year-old Radhey was at the Jhalmal forest during the encounter. “He probably left just 10 minutes before we arrived,” says Amitabh Yash, SSP, STF. ”He is said to have escaped along with three other accomplices.’’

The Uttar Pradesh Government has announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh and the Madhya Pardesh Government declared a Rs 25,000 reward for Radhey. He has over 100 criminal cases against him and has not been arrested in the recent past. Radhey’s wife Satyawati is also pradhan of Sheetalpur village, but is presently lodged in Banda jail, while his 18-year-old son Sonu is studying in Allahabad. Though Radhey may not boast political clout, Chitrakoot is afraid of him.

Much like Dadua, who has left behind many stories of terror. Ask the 45-year-old zamindar of Kota Kandela village, whose left eye was gouged out by Dadua in August last year for failing to pay him Rs 5 lakh. “I was the village sarpanch in 2000-05 and Dadua was opposed to my candidature. When I was elected, he demanded Rs 5 lakh and I gave him the entire block fund,” he says.

The demand for another Rs 5 lakh came after the zamindar’s tenure ended. When he failed to pay, Dadua and his men picked him up from his house. “They took me to a jungle near Patrkarpuram and started beating me up. Then as Angad shone a torch in my eyes, Dadua took an iron knife and poked it in my right eye.”

The zamindar, whose family left the village soon after, was among those who rushed to the forest to see Dadua’s body, but is now afraid that Radhey will want vengeance on those who rejoiced at Dadua’s death.

His sentiments are echoed by the villagers of Mau Gurdari. Close to the forest where Dadua and his gang operated, it is one of the worst affected villages. For the past two years, the crop has failed, electricity is yet to reach the village and people still walk 25 km to get to a hospital.

On August 11 last year, a Brahmin father-son duo, Munni Lal and Harish Chand, were shot and then burnt while still alive. Dadua suspected them of being police informers. “I saw the flames and watched my husband and son die in front of my eyes,” said Subrahniya, Chand’s mother.

Soon after, five families in the village purchased rifles. “Twelve more have applied for a gun licence, but it’s pending with the tehsildar,” says Ram Dayal Tiwari, another villager. Dadua’s death has brought them relief, but the fear lives on.

Yet 2 km from Mau Gurdari, at Chamroha village, Dadua is respected. Sitting under the banyan tree next to the Hanuman temple on the village chaupal, where Dadua organised several feasts and puja, villagers are all praise. “Dadua never spared the police informers, but never hurt the poor. He was very religious. After all, he spent several lakhs to build a Hanuman temple at Fatehpur,” says 65-year-old Lal Ji. It’s a feeling echoed by villagers of Deokali. “He was a very religious person. He took to crime because bad company can corrupt any individual,” says Daya Ram, who went to school with Dadua. The dacoit himself attended school only up to class 1. Fearing police action, however, people in Chamroha are guarded. “We had to choose between the police and Dadua, and we chose him. The police would pick us up arbitrarily and book us for harbouring a criminal, but Dadua was reasonable. He never harmed any of us,” says Prem Pal of Chamroha.
It’s not something he can do any longer. If only there was a way to kill the fear his name still evokes.