LUCKNOW: Bulldozers are working wonders in flattening the crime graph in UP and the mere sight of these demolition machines parked outside their homes was enough to smoke out criminals from their hideouts.
On Thursday, five gangrape accused, who were on the run for over a week, quietly emerged from their dens and surrendered to Ambedkarnagar police, just hours after JCB machines were deployed outside their homes. And this even before a single brick or concrete was dismantled. Police were on the lookout for the five accused after case of gangrape was lodged by the family of a minor at Jaitpur police station on March 29.
Talking to TOI, superintendent of police, Ambedkarnagar, Alok Priyadarshi, said, soon after the crime, an FIR was registered against six persons and two teams were constituted to bust the crime. “Next day, one of the accused, Ravi Prakash Yadav, was nabbed, but the other five escaped. To mount pressure on the criminals to surrender, we dispatched five JCB machines for deployment outside homes of the accused, amidst a clamour among residents to demolish their residences. The trick worked. Within eight hours, all five gangrape accused walked to the police station and gave themselves up,” he said.
The old rule book adopted by police to tackle insurgency in Punjab and Northeast suggested interrogation of family members of accused or even putting them in prison, he said. “But tactics have changed. And the bulldozer is enough to strike terror in the hearts of criminals,” he added.
Those arrested on Thursday included Kamlesh, Shubham Shukla, Ramesh Yadav, Vijay Kumar Vishwakarma and Jaihind Yadav.
