Crime, Grime and Gumption — Case Files of an IPS Officer by OP Singh

Published by Penguin Random House India

Pages: 256

Price: Rs 395

How do senior police officers navigate their role amidst tensions in government? This is among the questions raised in Crime, Grime and Gumption — Case Files of an IPS Officer, a memoir by retired IPS officer O P Singh who served as Uttar Pradesh’s Director General of Police.

The 1983-batch IAS officer narrates interesting episodes from his long police career and gives a blow-by-blow account of the time he found himself in the middle of a tussle between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

After the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992, a churn took place in UP politics. In the 1993 Assembly polls, the SP and the BSP came together, with Mulayam Singh Yadav becoming the Chief Minister. Singh was the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in Bulandshahr at the time.

At this point, a gangster named Mahendra Fauji from the Gujjar community — caste allegiance was crucial to the gangs that operated in western UP — was proving to be a challenge for the police. In April 1994, Fauji was killed in a shootout with the police. Fauji’s death, writes Singh, created a “new trouble” for him.

“I had simply performed my duty, of stopping a criminal from committing a crime and providing succour to lakhs living under fear … The Gujjar community had lent their support to the BSP, and the party had a lot of support amongst them. The party claimed that the killing of Mahendra Fauji had upset the equation,” he writes.

Singh adds that then BSP president Kanshi Ram and secretary Mayawati demanded his suspension and raised doubts about the encounter. Singh says that “he was not shattered but was definitely disappointed”, adding that despite a “massive strain on the coalition government” the CM “refused to concede the demand”. The BSP lost the Hastinapur bypoll that year and the defeat was attributed to Gujjars deserting the party after Fauji’s encounter.

Amid all this, Mulayam gave Singh an important posting. In May 1994, Singh became the SSP of Lucknow, increasing tensions between the coalition partners. The same year, four Dalits with a criminal history were lynched in a Thakur-dominated village of Bulandshahr. The victims allegedly went to the village with the intention of committing a crime. This incident was used to put pressure on Singh.

At a press conference on June 10, 1994, Kanshi Ram and Mayawati demanded Singh’s suspension. “I had never even met Kanshi Ram and Mayawati, yet I was dragged into the political tussle between the two parties,” the former policeman writes, adding that two weeks later Mulayam met him to convey the news of his transfer as Kumbh Mela SSP. The CM, Singh writes, expressed regret. “SSP saheb, if I don’t transfer you, the BSP will withdraw support and my government will fall. We have to undergo this drill,” the former police officer quotes Mulayam as saying.

On June 2, 1995, Singh again took charge as Lucknow SSP. The same day, around 2 pm, the police department received complaints about disturbance at the Meera Bai Marg State Guest House. Singh commanded the Circle Officer, Hazratganj, and a team was dispatched to the guest house. He was later informed that everything was normal.

A couple of hours later, during a meeting with Deputy Magistrate Rajiv Kher, Singh got a message from the Principal Secretary (Home) and the DGP about “unlawful elements” present at the guest house. “Some people at the guest house complained that the BSP MLAs were being detained forcefully,” Singh writes. “The UP government was a coalition of the BSP and SP. The political climate then was thick, with the possibility that the differences between the coalition partners had gone beyond repair and the BSP had already withdrawn support to the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led government.”

Singh remembers that Mayawati was staying in suite numbers one and two, and that he directed the officials to make sure that these suites were “doubly secure”.

“Eventually, it became clear that the withdrawal of support by the BSP had caused the piquant situation. While Mayawati was trying to protect her MLAs from crossing over to the other side, the SP was claiming that some BSP members had expressed allegiance to Mulayam but they were being detained by their leaders,” he writes.

Singh adds, “Stories and rumours ran wild all around. Sample this: at around 10 p.m., that same day, the divisional commissioner who visited the state guest house had a word with Mayawati on the intercom. She expressed her desire to have tea. The estate officer, in charge of the guest house, rued there was no cooking gas cylinder in the kitchen. A cylinder was arranged from a nearby residence. The sight of the cylinder as it was being rolled towards the kitchen area, and the grating noise caused by it, sparked a rumour that there was an attempt to set Mayawati on fire.”

The following day, Singh received a copy of a letter written by Mayawati to the Governor. The letter, which he says surprised him, alleged that SP leaders unlawfully gathered at the guest house, attacked BSP members, and also took away some MLAs with them. “As a police officer, I was again caught in the crossfire of the insidious kind between two political parties, playing their power games,” he writes.

That night, at around 9 pm, the Governor dismissed the Mulayam government and Mayawati was sworn in as the new CM. Singh was suspended and slapped with two cases connected to the events at the guest house. The government reinstated him after 150 days and all the cases and inquiries against him were subsequently withdrawn.

Singh writes that the revocation of Article 370 by Parliament on August 5, 2019, was a “decision that was largely welcomed by the nation”. The same night, in a high-powered meeting on law and order, current UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Singh writes, “sounded the alarm for the UP Police regarding the Ayodhya verdict, which was ninety days away”. Singh was the DGP at the time.

“October saw the launch of an exercise to identify illegal migrants living in the state on the basis of illegal means, including through fake identities,” Singh writes. This fuelled media speculation that the National Register for Citizens had been implemented across the state like in Assam.

On October 18, Kamlesh Tiwari, the founder of the Hindu Samaj Party, a regional outfit, was killed by two Muslim men. This incident saw a flurry of activity on social media, with several making provocative statements. Singh writes that more than seventy FIRs were registered and some arrests made.

Less than three weeks later, the top court was about to announce the Ayodhya case verdict. “Hundreds of people were detained in Ayodhya and thousands of police officers were deployed to meet up with the challenge. Social media was closely monitored to pick up unwarranted chatter. About a thousand individuals active on social media creating nuisance were marked and cases registered against them. The state went through some very tense moments right up to the declaration of the verdict. Hotspots were marked, foot patrolling and random checking became a norm.”

About the day of the SC judgment, Singh writes: “CM Yogi positioned himself in the police headquarters to monitor the situation by the second and ensure immediate decision if an emergent situation was to develop. An emergency desk was established for every zone in the state. It was a massive, calibrated police show, and it goes to the credit of the UP Police, for it yet again displayed its fortitude and efficiency.”

Singh writes that National Security Adviser Ajit Doval appreciated his role in keeping the state calm and peaceful during this period.