The administration and the police facing flak in the aftermath of the killing of a gangster by armed miscreants within the court premises at Roorkee, security has been strengthened in the district court premises at Roshnabad in Haridwar on Tuesday, a day after the gory shootout. Besides, the security of the jails based in the State has been tightened too following Monday’s daylight shootout within the court premises. Notably, an accused of the infamous gunfight outside the Roorkee jail was shot dead when he was taken to the court from jail to enable him to appear in the hearing of the gang fight case that occurred in August 2014. The deceased being close to the dreaded gangster Sunil Rathi, the killers are supposed to be close to Rathi’s rival Chinu Pandit. Notably, the gangs loyal to Rathi and Pandt had clashed outside the Roorkee jail in which three persons had died.
A highly placed police source said that Monday’s incident has exposed the chinks in the security system around the court in Roorkee as well as the district court in Roshnabad.
These must be plugged adequately to ensure that such gang fights do not recur, the source said, adding that the security of the prisons must be spruced up too. It must be written here that common people have started fearing criminals in view of the recent shoot out.
Things are really bad at the district court at Roshnabad in terms of security, observers say while citing that the district court has no CCTV camera installed in it despite the fact that half a dozen under-trial gangsters come for hearing here on an average every month. Besides, the place where the court is situated is surrounded by forest, something that can be used by the miscreants to escape after committing crimes, they say.
“It is a fact that the gangsters like Sunil Rathi, Jeeva, Chinu Pandit, Sachin Khokhar, Praveen Valmiki and Narendra Valmiki as well as their aides come here every month to attend court hearings. Jeeva was brought to the district court in Roshanabad from Bagpat jail of Uttar Pradesh in connection with the hearing of the blanket dealer’s murder case recently. Security thus needs to be strengthened to avert a gang war that Roorkee court witnessed on Monday,” says an observer.
Quizzed over security, SSP Krishna Kumar V K said, “We have ensured that no person is allowed in the court unchecked. Installation of metal detectors is underway. Things would be completed in a day or two. The prison authorities have been asked to be on the alert too.”
Observers further say that Roorkee area being contiguous to western Uttar Pradesh, the nature of crimes happening there is similar to the ones that occur in western UP.
The lawyers practising in the district court at Roshnabad said that the boundary wall of the district court is not tall enough. “Besides, we have no security in our chambers. The forest lying in the vicinity has made us more vulnerable. We are really under threat as a seasoned criminal cam easily jump the wall, barge into our chambers and do anything they want with us,” said an advocate Amit Bhadauria.