Com. Mahendra Singh
[What led to the murder of Comrade Mahendra Singh? Comrade Mahendra Singh had presented a detailed set of documents in the Jharkhand Assembly in December, including a report of an enquiry conducted by the Vigilance Department, which inexorably exposed the murderous nexus between the SP Deepak Varma, senior BJP leaders and the State’s notorious Coal Mafia. He had also told the Assembly that Deepak Varma had issued threats to his life, and a copy of these documents had been submitted to the Election Commission in December, demanding action against the guilty SP. This case had all the hallmarks of becoming a major embarrassment for the BJP and its Jharkhand Government. Silencing Mahendra Singh was a desperate attempt to gain respite. Below, we carry a report by Kumudini Pati based on the documents presented by Mahendra Singh in the Assembly.]
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Com. Mahendra Singh |
Deepak Verma, while he was SP, Hazaribagh, had turned a zonal commander of the Jharkhand Sangharsh Jan Mukti Morcha, one Umesh Ojha into a police informer, and with his help had raided an MCC hideout and confiscated a booty of Rs. 85 lakh from the MCC. The lion’s share of this booty was appropriated by Deepak Varma. But when Umesh asked for his share (10%) as promised by Deepak Varma, he was kidnapped from Subodh Line Hotel, Padma where he had been called to collect the prize money, and, with the help of a subordinate police officer (Barhi P.S. case 177/02), Deepak Varma shot Umesh dead at point-blank range. The family members of Umesh did not want to take possession of his body since they claimed to have known that the police would murder him. The body was burnt by the police.
SP Deepak Verma, having murdered Umesh, claimed he was killed in a police encounter in Bhurkundwa Forest, (Barkagaon P.S. case 76/2001). This subterfuge was exposed in the report of Additional Director General of Police, Vigilance, BD Ram. In fact, Ram, in his investigation report, says that the entire case has several contradictory facets, which require a deeper investigation, (e.g. a ballistic report to ascertain the distance from which Umesh was fired at, lie-detector tests of other police officers and medical officer who conducted the post mortem of Umesh etc.) But this can only be made possible through a CBI inquiry.
Deepak Verma, who had recovered the booty of Rs. 85,00,700 on the tip-off by Umesh, instead of informing the local police station, took the sealed locker in a bullock cart and then in a Tata 407 van to his own residence. Constable Satyadev Singh then brought lock-and-key makers Mo. Shamsher and Mo. Firoz, who said they would need help to crack the safe. Then Imamul Haq and Mo. Abid were summoned and the safe was broken open with great difficulty with the help of screwdrivers, chisel and hammer. These men later testified to having broken open the safe and seen policemen removing bundles of currency notes to another room. After a gap of five days — 19 March to 25 March — only a sum of Rs. 5,80,000 was declared by the Police in a press conference. (Gomia P.S. case 36/2001). The actual procedure was to inform the local thana (Gomia Police Station) before the raid, place the locker before a Magistrate, contact the company which manufactured the locker (Godrej in this case), publicly declare the amount after getting the certificate of a Bank regarding the exact amount. This procedure was violated, as is evident in the probe conducted by BD Ram.
Deepak Verma had concocted false evidence to show an encounter, by showing arms and ammunitions at the site of the killing, by recording a bullet injury to Ghato Thana Incharge Arvind Kumar Sinha (another corrupt police official who is a close confidante of Deepak Varma) and by showing streaks of blood at the site. Statements of witnesses to the Special Branch of the Vigilance Dept. proved contradictory to the police version. A false post mortem report of Umesh was prepared by a confidante of Deepak Verma, Dr. Ramcharitra Kumar, who was an accused in the rape of a nurse (FIR No.1297/2001), and whom Deepak Verma had saved by forcing the nurse to withdraw the case.
Deepak Verma had also masterminded the killing of one Gendu Ganjhu and had shown it to be a police encounter. Subsequently, he claimed for himself and his subordinates the President’s Gallantry award, which was not conferred as the encounter was proved to have been false. (Katakmasandi P.S. case 185/2001)
SP Deepak Verma had been helping the Coal Mafia in the region and had been receiving huge monthly bribes for the ‘favour’, proof for which was found in the diary of Coal Mafia don Shambhu Singh, seized in an income tax raid by DIG KB Singh and Inspector Lallan Singh. The following entries were found in Shambhu Singh’s Diary-
26-11-02 SP- 50, 000 through KP (Kul Prakash Handa, a partner of Deepak Kumar Verma )
13-12-01 Sriram Singh, bodyguard of Deepak Kumar Verma - Rs. 50,000 (All monetary transactions with the Coal Mafia are done through Sriram Singh)
24-12-01 Mobile Phone Sim Card for Deepak Verma- Rs. 4000
Deepak Verma had used Coal Mafia bribes to construct a mansion worth crores of rupees in front of the official SP Bungalow. On the basis of inquiry, BD Ram had recommended that the investigation of Barkagaon PS case, Barahi PS case and Katakmansandi PS case should be reopened and conducted through an independent agency.
Deepak Verma had engaged hired killers to murder the prominent Hazaribagh Advocate Prashant Sahai, grandson of former CM of undivided Bihar KB Sahai, on 5 September 04. Prashant Sahai had been dealing with several cases related to Deepak Verma and had provided important and incriminating evidence against the accused SP to the Vigilance Department. He had thoroughly exposed the nexus between Deepak and the Coal Mafia in the State.
Initially, the Police claimed to have solved the case, but all they ‘found’ was that one ‘Saheb’ had got Prashant Sahai murdered, through one Tiwari alias Baba, who was a policeman. The ball was then thrown into the court of the CBI.
The CBI began a probe into the murder, and BJP leader Upendra Rai and jail constable Sriniwas Sharma, on their arrest, confessed that Prashant Sahai had been killed to prevent him from appearing in a crucial hearing of a case against Deepak Verma. Rs. 2 lakh had been given to the hired killers who belonged to the Pandav Gang whose kingpin Sanjay Sharma was lodged in Beur jail where the plot had been hatched. The hired gunmen Mukesh and Tiwari were led by Upendra Rai, brother of Manager Rai. Upendra Rai had links with the coal mafia and used to act as a conduit between the police and politicians, especially those belonging to the ruling party. q