BHOPAL: Gone are the days when inter-state dacoit gangs led by Patel (Kurmi) caste called the shots in ravines and forests on the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border.
The killing of most-wanted dacoit Lalit Patel by MP police in the jungles of Chitrakoot in Satna district in August 2017 has led to the wipe-out of dacoit gangs led by the Patels (Kurmi) in Satna and Rewa districts of MP and Chitrakoot and Banda districts of UP.
Only three gangs of dacoits are now active in these districts, including one led by old warhorse Gauri Yadav, another led by Babli Kol, and a third led by Rajauvva Yadav.
The Rajauvva Yadav gang has been active in Dabhaura area of Rewa district of MP, which borders Allahabad district in UP. The gang was recently involved in the kidnappings of a deputy forest ranger, a doctor and a tribal. It had attempted three more kidnappings of wealthy targets in Rewa.
The other two active gangs are non-Patel gangs led by Gauri Yadav and Babli Kol. The Gauri Yadav gang has been active since the days of major Patel gang leaders Shiv Kumar and Ambika Patel. The gang led by Babli Kol is believed to be more lethal. In an encounter between this gang and the UP police in August, a police sub inspector of Manikpur area in Chitrakoot district was killed.
A senior officer of the UP Special Task Force said: “This is, perhaps, the first time in over three decades that no gang led by a Patel (Kurmi) is active in the region, spanning from Satna to Fatehpur and Chitrakoot to Banda.
But it is certain that the Patel community, which comprises around 30 per cent of the population in Chitrakoot, Banda and Fatehpur, would revive efforts to regroup its gangs, owing to the rising power of the Yadav and Kol gangs in the region.”