GEHLOT CRACKS DOWN ON CRIME

AS RAJASTHAN RECORDS A SPIKE IN EXTORTION, FIRING AND OTHER GANG-RELATED CASES, STATE POLICE FINALLY GO AFTER ORGANISED CRIME NETWORKS AND HISTORY-SHEETERS, BOTH ON THE GROUND AND ONLINE

- Rohit Parihar

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot seemed to have taken a leaf out of Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath's book in his address at the Rajasthan Police Foundation Day event in Jaipur on April 16. "Our police will not be cowed down," he declared. "Gangsters and criminals should either surrender or they will be ruined." That same day, the reward money on fugitives was enhanced after a decade, with the state's top cop getting the powers to announce a reward of Rs 5 lakh, up from Rs 1 lakh.

Meanwhile, a video with the social media profiles of a few of Rajasthan's notorious gangsters is doing the rounds. It has a dialogue from the film Pushpa: The Rise-"Pushpa, Pushpa Raj... mein jhukega nahin (I will not bow down)"-playing in the background, followed by the song Teri jhalak asharfi' as a criminal shot at by police hobbles on a bandaged leg, as though doing the hook step made famous by the film's hero Allu Arjun. At least one of the criminals depicted thus is from the gang of Lawrence Bishnoi.

The police in Rajasthan are trying very hard to restore people's faith in the state's law and order situation by being tough on criminals amid a spurt in gang-related crimes. Cases of firing shot up from 311 in 2019 to 480 in 2022 and numbered 107 in just the first two months this year. Extortion attempts, likewise, rose from 11 in 2019 to 99 in 2022 (see A Rising Threat). Criminals flashing their arms, often illicit, on social media accounts is a popular new trend. The past month, at least four MLAS have complained of either being attacked or receiving threats to their lives. The Olympian Krishna Poonia, now an MLA and chairperson of the state sports council, has been given Z security following threats, while Ranjeeta Koli, the BJP MP from Bharatpur, has got Y-plus security after a series of attacks on her.