Friday, August 31, 2007
Houses of shame
I most certainly cannot speak personally for the accuracy of the following and would not pretend to do so, but it did appear in the reputable MidDay Mumbai on August 30, 2007
IMO: Even if the details below are very true, I am pretty sure that if we knew more of the truth, we could find that there is a worse bunch of crooks in Westminster, UK and indeed Scotland, UK. I think of the recent "retirement" of John Prescott with a million pounds, his son's land dealings, Blair's covered up police investigation for corruption when he seems to be known as guilty, and so on. And that is only a start, for just one political party which is really not too bad by UK standards. There is far worse. And at least India and the UK are vaguely democracies where there is at least some chance of improving things, not virtual dictatorships like Zimbabwe or two-party semi-dictatorships like the USA, or even like not so bad countries like Canada which had the case where a former Prime Minister got drunk and vomited over a lot of voters- but they still voted for him as there was no one any better.
Arun Gawali Maharashtra Assembly since 2004;
Arun Gawli actively carried out kidnappings and extortions. Once a small-time chargesheeter in Byculla, Mahalaxmi, Agripada, Parel, Naigaum and the Chinchpokli areas, Gawli became don after the strikes in Mumbai’s textiles mills in 1970s.
He used the unemployed, hungry, poverty-stricken workers to fuel his crime syndicate. Gawli was originally aligned with the Dawood Ibrahim gang, but subsequently fell out over the division of spoils. He was in jail under judicial custody for more than 10 years, but never convicted.
Hitendra Thakur Maharashtra Assembly since 1990
Hitendra Thakur and his brother Jayendra alias Bhai Thakur operated a gang in Vasai-Virar. Police cases against them (mostly pending in court or under investigation) include extortion, criminal intimidation, attempt to murder, murder and land grabbing.
Pappu Kalani Maharashtra Assembly 1986-2001 and since 2004
Suresh alias Pappu Kalani led a gang in Ulhasnagar in the 1980s. He is currently on bail in 19 cases, including eight murders. In April 1990, a rickshaw union leader Maruti Jadhav was murdered and in his dying declaration Jadhav named Kalani. He was jailed under TADA and was also accused in the Inder Bhateja and J J Hospital shootout cases. Kalani spent nine years in jail under TADA before being released on bail in 2002.
Mohammad Shahabuddin Bihar Assembly 1990-96 and Lok Sabha since 1996
Shahabuddin is one of the most notorious criminal politicians. He came into the limelight while at college in the 1980s. He was nicknamed as Shaabu-AK47, after his skill in handling the machine gun. The first criminal case against him was filed in 1985 and several since then.
In 1996, he was named as a Minister of State for the Home Ministry (which oversees law and order) in the H D Deve Gowda government, but he had to be dropped after the media highlighted his criminal background. By early 2000, Shahabuddin was running a parallel administration in Siwan, holding ‘kangaroo courts’ to settle family and land disputes, fixing doctors consultancy fees and brokering marital problems.
Currently serving life sentence for kidnapping with intent to murder and on trial for more than 30 criminal cases including eight murders, 20 of attempted murder, kidnapping, extortion, etc.
Phoolan Devi Lok Sabha, 1996-98 and 1999-2001
Popularly known as the Bandit Queen, she was an active member of the Vikram Mallah gang and participated in the gang’s activities — ransacking upper caste villages and kidnapping landowners for ransom. After being raped by some high-caste men, she formed her own gang.
The gang carried out a series of violent robberies in North and Central India, mainly targeting upper-caste people. On February 14, 1981, her gang gunned down 21 Thakurs in Behmai village. Phoolan claimed she did not kill anybody in Behmai; all the killings were carried out by gang members.
She was killed by Sher Singh Rana on July 25, 2001 in New Delhi.
Raghuraj Pratap Singh Uttar Pradesh Assembly since 1993
Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya is under trial in 35 criminal cases including several of murder, assault, possession of illegal weapons like AK-56 rifles etc. He was jailed during 2002-04 on terrorism charges after a large cache of weapons were found with him."
Within 25 minutes of Mulayam Singh Yadav coming to power in 2003, all POTA charges against Raja Bhaiya were dropped. However, the Supreme Court debarred the state government from dismissing the charges.
After Mayawati came to power this year, he was declared leader of a criminal gang with about 105 members and legal cases pending against him were reopened.
Shibu Soren Lok Sabha, 1980, 1989-91, 1996, 2004
Out on bail, Shibu Soren was found guilty of murdering his former personal secretary Shashinath Jha on November 28, 2006. He was Union minister for coal at that time. He is also an accused in mass killing cases in Jharkhand.
D P Yadav Uttar Pradesh Assembly, 1989, Rajya Sabha, since 2004
Has been charged in nine murder cases, three cases of attempted murder, two cases of dacoity, kidnapping, as well as various crimes under the Excise Act, Gangsters’ Act and TADA. By 1991, when Yadav had entered politics, he had some 25 criminal cases registered against him. His name also figures in the Jessica Lal murder case, in which his son Vikas is a co-accused.
IMO: Even if the details below are very true, I am pretty sure that if we knew more of the truth, we could find that there is a worse bunch of crooks in Westminster, UK and indeed Scotland, UK. I think of the recent "retirement" of John Prescott with a million pounds, his son's land dealings, Blair's covered up police investigation for corruption when he seems to be known as guilty, and so on. And that is only a start, for just one political party which is really not too bad by UK standards. There is far worse. And at least India and the UK are vaguely democracies where there is at least some chance of improving things, not virtual dictatorships like Zimbabwe or two-party semi-dictatorships like the USA, or even like not so bad countries like Canada which had the case where a former Prime Minister got drunk and vomited over a lot of voters- but they still voted for him as there was no one any better.
Arun Gawali Maharashtra Assembly since 2004;
Arun Gawli actively carried out kidnappings and extortions. Once a small-time chargesheeter in Byculla, Mahalaxmi, Agripada, Parel, Naigaum and the Chinchpokli areas, Gawli became don after the strikes in Mumbai’s textiles mills in 1970s.
He used the unemployed, hungry, poverty-stricken workers to fuel his crime syndicate. Gawli was originally aligned with the Dawood Ibrahim gang, but subsequently fell out over the division of spoils. He was in jail under judicial custody for more than 10 years, but never convicted.
Hitendra Thakur Maharashtra Assembly since 1990
Hitendra Thakur and his brother Jayendra alias Bhai Thakur operated a gang in Vasai-Virar. Police cases against them (mostly pending in court or under investigation) include extortion, criminal intimidation, attempt to murder, murder and land grabbing.
Pappu Kalani Maharashtra Assembly 1986-2001 and since 2004
Suresh alias Pappu Kalani led a gang in Ulhasnagar in the 1980s. He is currently on bail in 19 cases, including eight murders. In April 1990, a rickshaw union leader Maruti Jadhav was murdered and in his dying declaration Jadhav named Kalani. He was jailed under TADA and was also accused in the Inder Bhateja and J J Hospital shootout cases. Kalani spent nine years in jail under TADA before being released on bail in 2002.
Mohammad Shahabuddin Bihar Assembly 1990-96 and Lok Sabha since 1996
Shahabuddin is one of the most notorious criminal politicians. He came into the limelight while at college in the 1980s. He was nicknamed as Shaabu-AK47, after his skill in handling the machine gun. The first criminal case against him was filed in 1985 and several since then.
In 1996, he was named as a Minister of State for the Home Ministry (which oversees law and order) in the H D Deve Gowda government, but he had to be dropped after the media highlighted his criminal background. By early 2000, Shahabuddin was running a parallel administration in Siwan, holding ‘kangaroo courts’ to settle family and land disputes, fixing doctors consultancy fees and brokering marital problems.
Currently serving life sentence for kidnapping with intent to murder and on trial for more than 30 criminal cases including eight murders, 20 of attempted murder, kidnapping, extortion, etc.
Phoolan Devi Lok Sabha, 1996-98 and 1999-2001
Popularly known as the Bandit Queen, she was an active member of the Vikram Mallah gang and participated in the gang’s activities — ransacking upper caste villages and kidnapping landowners for ransom. After being raped by some high-caste men, she formed her own gang.
The gang carried out a series of violent robberies in North and Central India, mainly targeting upper-caste people. On February 14, 1981, her gang gunned down 21 Thakurs in Behmai village. Phoolan claimed she did not kill anybody in Behmai; all the killings were carried out by gang members.
She was killed by Sher Singh Rana on July 25, 2001 in New Delhi.
Raghuraj Pratap Singh Uttar Pradesh Assembly since 1993
Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya is under trial in 35 criminal cases including several of murder, assault, possession of illegal weapons like AK-56 rifles etc. He was jailed during 2002-04 on terrorism charges after a large cache of weapons were found with him."
Within 25 minutes of Mulayam Singh Yadav coming to power in 2003, all POTA charges against Raja Bhaiya were dropped. However, the Supreme Court debarred the state government from dismissing the charges.
After Mayawati came to power this year, he was declared leader of a criminal gang with about 105 members and legal cases pending against him were reopened.
Shibu Soren Lok Sabha, 1980, 1989-91, 1996, 2004
Out on bail, Shibu Soren was found guilty of murdering his former personal secretary Shashinath Jha on November 28, 2006. He was Union minister for coal at that time. He is also an accused in mass killing cases in Jharkhand.
D P Yadav Uttar Pradesh Assembly, 1989, Rajya Sabha, since 2004
Has been charged in nine murder cases, three cases of attempted murder, two cases of dacoity, kidnapping, as well as various crimes under the Excise Act, Gangsters’ Act and TADA. By 1991, when Yadav had entered politics, he had some 25 criminal cases registered against him. His name also figures in the Jessica Lal murder case, in which his son Vikas is a co-accused.
# posted by uv : 3:00 AM
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