In the state of Uttar Pradesh, under the leadership of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the crackdown on gangsters and mafias is continuing unabated. Gangsters are being made to run for their life. In India, Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the most dangerous place for criminals – especially those who terrorise people with their power, influence, money and political connections. Under the BJP’s rule though, gangsters have seen their empires collapsing to the ground right before their eyes. Yogi Adityanath is unsparing when it comes to teaching criminals a lesson. Now, Uttar Pradesh has revealed the costs that criminals have had to bear in the past year.
The numbers are mind-boggling. The criminal enterprise in Uttar Pradesh is down to its knees. Illegal properties including movable and immovable assets worth Rs 1128.24 crores belonging to at least 25 mafias including gangsters like Atiq Ahmed and Mukhtar Ansari have been confiscated by the Yogi government under the stringent Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities Act in the past year only.
Releasing the explosive data, Uttar Pradesh Additional DGP (law and order) Prasant Kumar said that between January 2020 and April 2021, 5,558 cases under the Gangster Act have been registered against at least 22,259 associates of these 25 notorious gangsters. He added that the majority of the properties which have been seized and demolished in the past year belonged to gangsters Atiq Ahmed and Mukhtar Ansari.
According to Live Hindustan, police of Varanasi, Mau and Azamgarh districts took action against 244 members of the Mukhtar Ansari gang and seized movable and immovable properties worth Rs 194.82 crore. 158 criminals were arrested by registering 102 cases against the members of this gang. Along with revoking 122 arms licenses, the action was taken against 110 gangsters. The Police have also opened the history sheets of at least 37 of Ansari’s aides. Similarly, action was taken against 89 members of the Ateeq gang and their movable and immovable properties worth Rs 325 crore were confiscated and demolished.
ADG Prashant Kumar also confirmed that close to 203 FIRs have been registered against members and associates of 515 different criminal gangs. Yogi Adityanath government in the last few years has shown a zero-tolerance policy against criminals. Since the time he assumed the position of the CM, Yogi Adityanath has been obstinate in culling the gangster-culture of the state, which had been allowed to fester unchecked for long under the previous regimes.
The fear of the government, police, and administration is making the criminals who used to run parallel administration fall into line. Such is the ferocious enforcement of law after Yogi came into power in 2017 that many gangsters and criminals are willingly surrendering before the UP Police, as they deem the jails to be a safer place to reside in.
Late last year, the Yogi government bulldozed the illegal properties of criminal politicians and made them pay for the demolition of their buildings. This had instilled so much fear among the criminals and criminal-politicians that they themselves started demolishing their illegal constructions. By seizing thousands of crores worth of criminal assets, the Yogi government has pushed gangsters and criminals of Uttar Pradesh into a grave – from which they can never rise again.