Tightening the noose around gangsters in Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government has taken a stringent decision to equip the government officials with greater powers to deal with gangsters in the state. In its latest decision, the state government has conferred powers on deputy commissioner rank officers to order attachment of properties in cases lodged under the UP Gangster and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act. This power earlier vested with the Commissioner of Police and District Magistrates but now with the state cabinet’s approval, the power can be exercised by deputy commissioner rank officials as well.
According to reports, the decision will be applicable only in Noida and Lucknow as the two Commissionerates of the state are located in these two areas. The UP Gangsters Act allows the concerned officers to attach any movable or immovable property if the officer has reason to believe that the property has been acquired by a gangster as a result of the commission of an offence triable under the Act. The concerned officer can attach the property even if the court has not yet taken cognisance of the matter.
Joint Commissioner of Police said that the decision will speed up the disposal of cases
Joint Commissioner of Police (JCP) (crime) Nilabja Chaudhary reportedly said that in Lucknow and Noida, only the police commissioner was authorised to order attachment of property but following the new order, cases will be disposed faster. “Now all ten Deputy Commissioners of Police in Lucknow will be able to dispose of such cases. In Noida, all seven DCPs will have the same authority. This will help to dispose of cases faster”, the JCP was quoted as saying. H added that in the last one year around 697 persons have been booked under the Gangsters Act and property worth Rs 90 crore has been recovered from their possession.
UP government has been taking action against gangsters in the state
The Uttar Pradesh government has been cracking down on gangsters operating in the state ever since it came to power in 2017. The government had attached and demolished the illegal properties of several gangsters in the state. Last year in August, the government had demolished two illegal buildings belonging to gangster-turned-politicians BSL MLA Mukhtar Ansari. Not only this, the government recovers the expenses incurred in the demolition of illegal constructions from the gangster concerned.