87 kidnappings, 6 murders, later a Crime counsellor
VIJAY UPADHYAY
Firozabad. It is said that crime pays, but Netrapal gives this popular saying an entirely new meaning. Once, a hard-core bandit of UP, Netrapal is now the crime counselor of Firozabad police.
This hard-hearted criminal, who claims to have even abducted the grandson of the then President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, has been sentenced to death three times since he surrendered before the police in 1978 but each time, he has been exonerated.
Now, reformed and repentant for his long list of 136 crimes including 87 kidnappings for ransom and three murders, Netrapal is living in the Firozabad district of Uttar Pradesh, upholding the flame of “Chambal Shanti Mission” in order to rehabilitate the dacoits active in this region though he considers the UP dacoits as “Chhinras” or characterless people for keeping women in their gangs, which was against the “old bandit code”.
This correspondent talked to Netrapal on Friday in the Firozabad Police Lines, where he had been called by the Superintendent of Police (SP) Firozabad Anand Swaroop, to address “crime counseling sessions” of a motley crowd of over 400 murderers, kidnappers, rapists & bandits who had assembled there on the invitation of the SP to discuss their criminal lives heart to heart with the police over a cup of tea.
Netrapal was one of the few selected reformed gangsters of Firozabad who have been tasked by the SP to help the police in “counseling” about 1200 history-sheeter criminals of this district in an effort to re-habilitate this large army of criminals into the mainstream of the society by understanding their crime-methodology and by making them understand the evils linked with crime.
Reminiscing his criminal life, Netrapal, a resident of Himmatpur village of Firozabad said that he was called the master of kidnappings back in the 60’s & 70’s, regularly passing out tips for successful kidnappings to the bandits active in the state, after having successfully executed 87 kidnappings himself, including that of the grandson of the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who had been released upon paying up a sum of Rs. 25 thousand, a huge sum of money considering the rupee index of the 70’s.
In 1975, he was given his first death sentence by the Fatehgarh special court for murdering a bus driver and conductor in Agra in 1970. The Second and Third death penalties were announced 1976 for the murder of his maternal cousins. In all these cases, he received the presidential pardon when he surrendered before the police in 1978.
He said that he would have continued with his life of crime if he had not come in the contact of socialist leader S S Subbarao who made him surrender before the police and was sent to the Fatehgarh Central Jail where his two kids Ranga and Billa were born.
Since he was released in 1988, he said, he had refrained from crime and asked his five sons to follow suit, though two of his sons went awry and when he told them to stay away from crime, both of them committed suicide, further breaking him down, after which, he resolved to spend the rest of his life guiding the criminals away from this life.
He said that pleased with his efforts towards reforming criminals, the Madhya Pradesh government has given him 90 bighas of agricultural land near Morena. Besides, he has also received a residential quarter as part of the MP government’s bandit rehabilitation programme.
He said that at present, new people were beginning to walk the streets of crime but they were too sloppy in their activities and often committed heinous crimes like murder for petty thefts like chain snatching and spent their entire lives in jail, but the old criminals had already perfected their “art” and they always considered the “worth” of crime, never spilling blood unnecessarily.
He said that the older criminals had a sense of morality that the current generation lacked completely and by participating in these counseling sessions, the new criminals could also realize the futility of the lives of crime.
This gangster convention called by the Superintendent of Police Firozabad is the second such gathering of hard-core criminals to be held in Uttar Pradesh, the first one being held in Etah in the year 2004, which had set a new milestone for corrective policing in this state.
Asked how he came upon this radical idea of inviting reformed gangsters to counsel the active criminals, the SP Firozabad, Anand Swarup said that such counselings by reformed criminals were aimed at identifying the active criminals of the district who were eager to get rehabilitated. This way, the police could re-establish the willing gangsters in the society by giving them a chance to reform while handling the active criminals with a heavy hand.
According to Mr. Anand Swarup, these “reformed” criminals could also act as “guides” for the police into the maze of crime, with the police utilizing their experience of a criminal lifestyle to develop better knowledge of the working of criminals.
He said that the first meeting was attended by over 400 criminals, out of whom, 100 were below the age of 30 years with a minimum of 5-6 criminals cases pending against them. All those who participated in these counseling sessions were eager to walk out of the garb of a criminal into the open air and the counseling provided by Netrapal helped them a great deal.
He said that the successful completion of the first round of counseling sessions had proved to be an ice-breaker for the police and now, more criminals, who were initially apprehensive to come to a meeting called by the police, were ready to participate in these sessions and another round of sessions shall be held shortly.
Besides being known as the “Bangle city” of India, the Firozabad district of Agra division, about 60 kilometers away from the city of Taj, is known for its stock of notorious criminals, being adjacent to the ravines of Chambal River, which are the popular haunts of the infamous “dacoits” who have terrorized the neighboring states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, besides UP since ages.
(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)
Firozabad. It is said that crime pays, but Netrapal gives this popular saying an entirely new meaning. Once, a hard-core bandit of UP, Netrapal is now the crime counselor of Firozabad police.
This hard-hearted criminal, who claims to have even abducted the grandson of the then President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, has been sentenced to death three times since he surrendered before the police in 1978 but each time, he has been exonerated.
Now, reformed and repentant for his long list of 136 crimes including 87 kidnappings for ransom and three murders, Netrapal is living in the Firozabad district of Uttar Pradesh, upholding the flame of “Chambal Shanti Mission” in order to rehabilitate the dacoits active in this region though he considers the UP dacoits as “Chhinras” or characterless people for keeping women in their gangs, which was against the “old bandit code”.
This correspondent talked to Netrapal on Friday in the Firozabad Police Lines, where he had been called by the Superintendent of Police (SP) Firozabad Anand Swaroop, to address “crime counseling sessions” of a motley crowd of over 400 murderers, kidnappers, rapists & bandits who had assembled there on the invitation of the SP to discuss their criminal lives heart to heart with the police over a cup of tea.
Netrapal was one of the few selected reformed gangsters of Firozabad who have been tasked by the SP to help the police in “counseling” about 1200 history-sheeter criminals of this district in an effort to re-habilitate this large army of criminals into the mainstream of the society by understanding their crime-methodology and by making them understand the evils linked with crime.
Reminiscing his criminal life, Netrapal, a resident of Himmatpur village of Firozabad said that he was called the master of kidnappings back in the 60’s & 70’s, regularly passing out tips for successful kidnappings to the bandits active in the state, after having successfully executed 87 kidnappings himself, including that of the grandson of the then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, who had been released upon paying up a sum of Rs. 25 thousand, a huge sum of money considering the rupee index of the 70’s.
In 1975, he was given his first death sentence by the Fatehgarh special court for murdering a bus driver and conductor in Agra in 1970. The Second and Third death penalties were announced 1976 for the murder of his maternal cousins. In all these cases, he received the presidential pardon when he surrendered before the police in 1978.
He said that he would have continued with his life of crime if he had not come in the contact of socialist leader S S Subbarao who made him surrender before the police and was sent to the Fatehgarh Central Jail where his two kids Ranga and Billa were born.
Since he was released in 1988, he said, he had refrained from crime and asked his five sons to follow suit, though two of his sons went awry and when he told them to stay away from crime, both of them committed suicide, further breaking him down, after which, he resolved to spend the rest of his life guiding the criminals away from this life.
He said that pleased with his efforts towards reforming criminals, the Madhya Pradesh government has given him 90 bighas of agricultural land near Morena. Besides, he has also received a residential quarter as part of the MP government’s bandit rehabilitation programme.
He said that at present, new people were beginning to walk the streets of crime but they were too sloppy in their activities and often committed heinous crimes like murder for petty thefts like chain snatching and spent their entire lives in jail, but the old criminals had already perfected their “art” and they always considered the “worth” of crime, never spilling blood unnecessarily.
He said that the older criminals had a sense of morality that the current generation lacked completely and by participating in these counseling sessions, the new criminals could also realize the futility of the lives of crime.
This gangster convention called by the Superintendent of Police Firozabad is the second such gathering of hard-core criminals to be held in Uttar Pradesh, the first one being held in Etah in the year 2004, which had set a new milestone for corrective policing in this state.
Asked how he came upon this radical idea of inviting reformed gangsters to counsel the active criminals, the SP Firozabad, Anand Swarup said that such counselings by reformed criminals were aimed at identifying the active criminals of the district who were eager to get rehabilitated. This way, the police could re-establish the willing gangsters in the society by giving them a chance to reform while handling the active criminals with a heavy hand.
According to Mr. Anand Swarup, these “reformed” criminals could also act as “guides” for the police into the maze of crime, with the police utilizing their experience of a criminal lifestyle to develop better knowledge of the working of criminals.
He said that the first meeting was attended by over 400 criminals, out of whom, 100 were below the age of 30 years with a minimum of 5-6 criminals cases pending against them. All those who participated in these counseling sessions were eager to walk out of the garb of a criminal into the open air and the counseling provided by Netrapal helped them a great deal.
He said that the successful completion of the first round of counseling sessions had proved to be an ice-breaker for the police and now, more criminals, who were initially apprehensive to come to a meeting called by the police, were ready to participate in these sessions and another round of sessions shall be held shortly.
Besides being known as the “Bangle city” of India, the Firozabad district of Agra division, about 60 kilometers away from the city of Taj, is known for its stock of notorious criminals, being adjacent to the ravines of Chambal River, which are the popular haunts of the infamous “dacoits” who have terrorized the neighboring states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, besides UP since ages.
(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)
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