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2.2.11

Oil mafia strikes near Umrer, 16 cops hurt

A raid on the alleged kerosene racket turned into a nightmare for Nagpur rural police when villagers being raided in Umrer tehsil turned violent and attacked the cops on Tuesday morning. The raid on Rajulwadi village near Umrer, around 35 km from Nagpur, left 16 policemen injured. The village perched on a hillock, off Nagpur-Gadchiroli state highway, is resided by the Pardhi community.

The attack is second incident of kerosene mafia attacking law enforcers after the recent murder of Malegaon additional collector Yashwant Sonawane in Manmad.

An official of deputy superintendent of police rank and in-charge of Umrer police station were among injured. Two police vehicles were also damaged. The cops were attacked with thorny shrubs, sharp weapons and also chilli powder. The Pardhi tribals pelted stones on cops for around half-an-hour which compelled the police to take shelter behind the two police jeeps of senior officers. The Pardhis damaged the vehicles.

The cops then gathered their wits and launched a strategic lathi-charge to drive away the violent mob to safer distance. The rural control room and headquarters were also alerted which rushed reinforcements within an hour. Police in their counter-action arrested 20 persons, including 19 women.

In a twist, large quantity of communist, pro-revolutionary literature and books on Marxist ideology was recovered from the residence of the alleged oil mafia kingpin Pannalal Rajput. Security agencies claimed Rajput family will now be investigated for Naxal links as well. Apart from Pannalal, police has also included his sons Vijendra, a former law student, and Rajendra as co-accused in the offence.

Pannalal's wife Nandabai too has been named. A visit to their residence by TOI revealed that the Rajputs were heavily influenced by the revolutionary thinkers including Shahid Bhagat Singh and Netaji Subhas Bose. Pannalal was also an activists of sorts for tribal rights. He and his family are now absconding.

The villagers, however, criticized the police action and claimed that the cops rounded up school-going children, manhandled women and ransacked the houses of innocent people. The allegation was denied strongly by CH Wakde, superintendent of police, Nagpur rural, who said that whenever Pardhis were pulled up for illegal activities they mount counter pressure by levelling baseless allegations.

"Police reacted after they wee attacked and not the other way around. We did not target any children or women. They had damaged our vehicles," said Wakde.

Sudhakar Palandurkar, sub-divisional police officer, Umrer division, had led a team of Umrer police, including senior inspector Madhukar Gite, to raid the residence of Rajputs at Rajulwadi. The raid began at 10 am at the residence of the Rajput allegedly involved in diverting kerosene meant to be sold through public distribution system.

Rajputs, said police, would collect the BPL cards from legitimate holders in the village and collect their share of subsidized kerosene. This would then be sold at a higher rate to vehicle owners, especially truckers and farmers driving tractors for mixing with diesel. Police said the Rajputs were requested to cooperate with the raiding team.

"There was a big drum of around 200 litre capacity and several smallers drums containing 30-35 litres of kerosene. The Rajputs started vociferously protesting the action," said constable Sanjay Paratwar who also received minor injuries in the attack. Sources said that SDPO Palandurkar and Senior PI Gite were the first to come under attack as Pardhi women started assaulting the cops with thorny branches. SDPO Palandurkar and his driver Manoj Pali were injured.

The Pardhis surrounded the cops on all sides. The women charged onto the cops as some of them were being taken to police vehicle. During the attack, most of the men, including the Rajputs, fled the scene. A constable was prompt to save his seniors as a villager in the scuffle brandished an axe. The stone pelting left many personnel, including a woman constable Kunda Jhanjal, injured. Cops seized 250 litres of kerosene, a tractor, and an autorickshaw from the place. They also came across stocks of illicit liquor being brewed that were destroyed.
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