His captors released the noted orthopedic of Patna, Dr Bharat Singh within three days of captivity on 7 February, thanks to the “direct intervention” of Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav and the pressure created by the doctors striking work all over the state and the people hitting the streets.

But then all those being kidnapped are not as “weighty” as Dr Bharat Singh to get the Raja of Bihar “directly intervene” or inspire the people to hit the streets in as ferocious way as they hit in the wake of the Orthopedics’ abduction. Kidnappers are on the prowl. They have abducted 10 persons between 8 February and 13 February (the day of writing this article) in different parts of the state.

The state has not witnessed any kidnapping free day from 8 February to 13 February. Criminals abducted the Patna civil Court’s advocate, Mr Ramanand Kesri’s son Ranjit Murti (15) from the heart of the city on 12 February. Lawyers struck work on 13 February in all the courts including the Patna High Court to protest the kidnapping and crime, paralysing the judiciary all over the state. But it makes no difference with the kidnappers. Those kidnapped are in kidnappers’ captivity with their hapless relatives engaged in “bargaining” the ransom amount with the captors. The affected families know that nothing except the “direct intervention” of the RJD chief or the payment of ransom amount will ensure the safe release of their near and dear ones. They have taken recourse to bargaining the ransom amount with the captors for few can influence the Raja to intervene.

The state police have recorded 350 cases of kidnapping in 2002 that is all time high. And the year 2003 will leave the records of 2002 far behind if the kidnappers keep on striking the way they have struck in one and half months of the new year. The state’s denizens have seen three Patna bandhs and a Bihar bandh to protest the sudden spurt in kidnapping and other crime in the last one and half months.

Panicked at the peoples’ anger spilling on the streets and the NDA trying to cash in on the turmoil, the RJD regime replaced R. R. Prasad by D. P. Ojha as the state Director General of Police in the first week of February. Ojha is regarded as an officer of “strict image”. It also changed the district magistrates and SPs in five districts.

But to the chagrin of the Laloo-Rabri regime, the abductors have begun striking with more regularity after the new DGP has taken over. On the very next day of Ojha’s appointment as the DGP, the criminals abducted Dr Bharat Singh. The state has not witnessed a single kidnapping free day since Ojha has taken over as the state police chief.

It’s known to all that the kidnapping is not a new phenomenon in the state. It had been flourishing as an industry in the East and West Champaran, Gopalganj, Begusarai and some other districts of the state. What has caused anxiety to the people is its sudden spurt in Patna that headquarters the Government and the police.

What is the reason for the sudden spurt in the incidents of kidnapping? Who are the people behind it? Why have the police failed to control it? These are some of the questions the social and political observers and the police personnel are pondering at.

What is certain that the kidnappers enjoy the patronage of politicians and the police in the state. It became evident when the police arrested five persons including Arif and Durgesh Sharma in connection with Dr Bharat Singh’s kidnapping from the house of an RJD MLA. The arrested persons belonged to the notorious gang of Sultan Mia who is close to the “don” and RJD MP from Siwan Md Shahabuddin who himself faces numerous cases of murder and other crimes. Md Shahabuddin had engaged the state police in a nine-hour gun battle at his Pratappur home two years ago.

Md Shahabuddin was on records pressuring Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav to appoint the “IPS officer of his (Shahabuddin’s) choice”, W. H. Khan as the DGP. He even got Mr Laloo Yadav’s two brothers in law, Mr Sadhu Yadav and Mr Subhas Yadav to support the appointment of Mr Khan as the state’s DGP. Mr Khan was once SP of Siwan and enjoyed “good rapport” with Md Shahabuddin. It’s known to all that these “heavyweights” want to have the police officers of their choice at the top position to have their way. “Md Shahabuddin always gets the police and administrative officials of his choice in Siwan”, said the CPI –ML-Liberation Secretary, Prabhat Kumar. The communist outfit is engaged in protracted struggle against Shahabuddin in Siwan.

But Mr Laloo Yadav reportedly rejected the demand of the “don” and his brothers in the appointment of the state DGP causing a heart burn to the don and his brothers in law. The wily RJD chief got appointed the DGP of his choice to keep the “monsters that the RJD regime has raised” in his control. The upper caste gangsters viz Chhotan Shukla, Bhutkun Shukla, Devendra Dubey and Samrat Choudhary etc dominated the scene from Siwan to Muzaffarpur to Begusarai before Laloo Yadav’s emergence on the political arena of the state. In addition to the resurgence of the backward classes, Muslims and dalits, Laloo Yadav’s rise to power also saw the emergence of backward class and Muslim criminals in the state.

The “new dons” who gained in strength in the Laloo-Rabri regime include the likes of Md Shahabuddin, Surendra Yadav, Rajballabh Yadav, Jakir Khan and Lalit Yadav etc. The likes of Chhotan Shukla, Bhutkun Shukla and Devendra Dubey were killed either in gang warfare or police encounters.

But a power politician that Mr Laloo Yadav is, he will hardly like these dons to go strong beyond a limit. On the other hand, these dons always exert the pressure on the Raja of Bihar to have the police officers of their choice to freely continue with their “sin” and get protection.

The sudden spurt in the cases of kidnapping in the state is attributed to the internal tussle between the Raja who is trying to control the “dons” and the “dons” trying to get their men in the key positions of the administration. “Laloo Yadav has become the victim of the monsters that his regime raised”, said the Leader of Opposition, Sushil Kumar Modi.

But what is the biggest problem of Mr Modi and his other BJP and the NDA friends is that the NDA constituents too derive their strength from the “dons.” The NDA’s dons include Surajbhan, Rajan Tiwary, Munna Shukla and Sunil Pandey, all belonging to upper castes who are trying to re-assert themselves in the state politics. They all had supported the NDA Government, which survived only for 13 days after the 2000 Assembly elections in the state.

What is agonizing for the people at large are that neither the RJD nor the NDA has shown inclination to keep away from the gangsters and people of criminal antecedent. Observers don’t see any possibility of decline in the cases of kidnapping, loot and other crimes in the state in the near future for there is hardly any mainstream political party, which is ready to shun the dons and criminals.

In fact, R. R. Prasad, before making way for D. P. Ojha, was on records lamenting: “My position was like Mahabharata’s Bhimshma Pitamah. I couldn’t have done anything despite being the police chief the way Bhishma Pitamah could not do anything to rescue Draupadi being stripped by Dushashan despite being the patriarch of Kauravas and Pandavas.” The DGP’s lament summed up it all.

A police officer has his limitations in a democratic set up. He can establish the rule of law only when the political dispensation keeps itself away from the law breakers.

Nalin Verma
The author is The Statesman’s Patna-based Special Representative.