BHOPAL: Counted among the top 25 most-wanted inter-state drug smugglers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and someone who is notorious for fearlessly firing at the police, 27-year-old Sunil Meena’s arrest was rather tame. The police found him hiding behind a drum wrapped in a quilt in his house in Gamerpura village of the Neemuch district of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday night.
The drug smuggler wanted in 19 cases was arrested by a team of Rajasthan Police’s Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF). Its inspector general Vikas Kumar said, “He first tried to hoodwink our team by posing as someone else. But, sustained quizzing by the police team led to him admitting his identity. He also admitted involvement in narcotics smuggling in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. He was subsequently arrested and brought to Rajasthan.”
The Rajasthan ANTF launched Operation Neelmani around eight months back to nab Mena and pressed dedicated teams into action. Meena carried a reward of `1.52 lakh on arrest, including `1 lakh announced by Rajasthan’s ADG (crime), `50,000 by the Pali district police and `2,000 by the Udaipur police. Alongside, the MP Police announced a bounty of `15,000 for his arrest.
Investigation has revealed that Meena often used jungles near his village to hide from police. “Subsequently, one of our crack constables started operating in the same area under the guise of a shepherd and started collecting detailed inputs about Meena’s movements. It came to light that while hiding in the jungles, he created unique marks on trees to guide his wife, who regularly took food to him,” Kumar said.
The constable posing as shepherd kept an eye on the jungles, but Meena could not be spotted for a long time. However, on Tuesday, that the Rajasthan ANTF team got a breakthrough about some feast-like arrangements having been made at Meena’s house in his village.
The ANTF crack teams were pressed into action, who started carefully approaching Meena’s house. “Sudden rain on Tuesday came as a blessing. It managed to reach Meena’s house under the cover of rains. He preferred to stay back at his home due to rain, instead of shifting to his hideout. The ANTF team stormed into his house and found him hiding behind a drum,” Kumar added.