Click to play videoLucknow: Shiv kumar Patel or Dadua a dreaded dacoit from Uttar Pradesh was killed by the police on Sunday morning.
For over two decades, Dadua was a name to dread in Uttar Pradesh. Kidnapping, extortion and murder - he did them all, often with impunity because he was also a political campaigner.
Dadua had as many as 184 criminal cases against him, and a reward of Rs five lakh on his head.
Little wonder then, that when he was shot dead by a special team of the Uttar Pradesh police early on Sunday.
Two months after the BSP came to power the police were quick to credit the government.
UP Police DGP Vikram Singh says, “We had a free hand to do this operation. The Chief Minister herself knew everything about the operation.”
But Dadua was himself a supporter of the BSP.
After the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Dadua switched his allegiance to the Samajwadi Party.
Mulayam Singh Yadav rewarded him by giving party tickets to Dadua's son Beer Singh and brother Bal Kumar.
In the 2007 Assembly elections, Dadua even issued a diktat Bundelkhand, warning people to vote for the Samajwadi Party or face dire consequences. A little over two months after the BSP won that election, Dadua is dead.
In the last 26 years, more than Rs 64 crore was spent under the "operation Dadua" carried out jointly by the Uttar Pradesh and the Madhaya Pradesh police.
It was not just the dacoit's political connections but his strong network of informers in the government that police always failed to nab him.
The dacoit has finally met his end but not before exposing the deep-rooted nexus between dacoits and politicians.
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