By ARAVIND Chaturvedi IPS.
I am elated, honoured and humbled to share with you that I have been awarded the first bar (second medal) to the Police Medal for Gallantry today, on the eve of Independence Day 2020.
This medal is a recognition of one of the most memorable cases from my tenure at UP STF, the encounter of Firdaus in Mumbai in April 2006. The operation was done under the able guidance and support of Home Secretary, UP Govt Sh SK Bhagat, then SSP STF, and IG Recruitment Board, UP Police Sh Vijay Bhushan, then Addl SP, STF.
Firdaus @ Mota @ Javed @ Raju @ Irfan @ Afroz @ Rajesh Kumar Singh did extensive extortion activities against coal business owners from Kolkata to Mughalsarai as a shooter of the Mukhtar Ansari gang of UP. He would send tremors through his victims by calling them and saying that he has recced their child’s school and would kidnap them if his extortion demands were not complied. He was accused in many criminal cases, one of them being the sensational murder of then sitting MLA of BJP from Ghazipur, Krishnanand Rai, on 29 November 2005. Sophisticated weapons like AK47 rifles were used in this gruesome act which left 7 people including the MLA and 2 policemen dead.
As the prime accused, Firdaus, was a notorious criminal with a hefty reward of 50,000 on his head, this case was given to the UP STF. A team of STF, led by me, started gathering electronic surveillance and intelligence on the accused. Firdaus was a very tech-savvy and shrewd person who was one of the very few criminals who used VoIP calling to evade interception and prevent tracking by Police.
This added a great challenge to the already high pressure, politically sensitive and scandalous case. Strategically, we began to collate and focus on his mistakes. Months of laborious and detailed work by the team enabled us to finally corner Firdaus on the afternoon of 19th April 2006 at Link Road in Malad area of Mumbai. He fired on us as we closed in to arrest him, and was injured in the retaliatory fire in self-defence. He later succumbed to his injuries and the criminal world became short of one hardened criminal.
I have led and been part of teams to operations against innumerable criminals in my career as a police officer. Technologies, natures of crime, mindset of criminals, level of sophistication have always been evolving. The effort that goes into solving a crime has, hence, increased multifold over the years. In this particular case, Deputy SPs PK Mishra and IP Singh, then Inspectors, did a commendable job in building this case and became the back-bone of the entire operation. A very notable contribution was from the intense field work put in by, then Sub Inspector in my team, Dhananjay Mishra. After subsequent promotions, he is now posted as a Deputy SP in Mau district of UP. I hope that their zeal and ardour are maintained throughout their lives.
I have been blessed with amazing subordinates and supportive superiors and mentors and this has enabled me to maintain a high standard of work. Whatever work that me and my teams have taken up over the years has been dealt with great vigour, diligence and honesty.
I humbly express my deep gratitude to all my well-wishers who motivate and constantly reinforce my enthusiasm to overcome any professional challenge and be confident in taking any initiatives.
With folded hands
Aravind Chaturvedi is posted as SP in Barabanki UP.