They were brought in to rein the underworld in, but they became a law unto themselves
On Thursday, the National Investigation Agency arrested former "encounter specialist" Pradeep Sharma of the Mumbai Police in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case after an early morning raid at his residence in Andheri. Sharma - who is the fifth person from the police department to be arrested in the case by the NIA, after Sachin Vaze, Riyazuddin Kazi and Sunil Mane - also belongs to the fabled ring of Mumbai Police officers of the late 1990s that was once allowed by the "system" to take no prisoners.
Ab Tak Chhappan, which hit the theatres in 2004, was one of many churned out by Bollywood which glorified Mumbai's encounter specialists. These officers are today under the scanner after Vaze was arrested on March 13 for allegedly planting a car loaded with explosives outside billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s house, was one of them. The descriptive "encounter specialists" is, however, slightly misleading. These policemen were not exceptionally brave or great marksmen. A majority of their hits were just thinly-veiled custodial deaths. And at the end of the 10-year period [1994 to 2004], when the encounter specialists enjoyed folk hero status, almost all stood discredited. Vaze, for instance, remained suspended for 16 years before being reinstated. He was recently dismissed from service.
But when the going was good, they were in newspapers nearly every week, dressed in flak jackets peering over a blood-soaked body. The story that would be sold to the newspapers every time there was an encounter used to be comical. The "criminal/terrorist" fired at the cops. Cops retaliated and killed him. Every time, a poor constable would end up in hospital with "bullet grazed his arm or leg" injury to make the encounter look genuine. The stories of rivalries between encounter squads were legendary and scorecards were maintained. Soon, there were whispers of gangs using these trigger-happy cops to bump off rivals. Also, there were reports of cops mediating in business disputes – mainly related to land. The encounter specialists’ multiplying wealth also became the talk of the town. Vaze, now everybody knows, had access to half-a-dozen luxury cars – from Mercs to Toyota Prados. It will, however, be naïve to assume that the "system" did not benefit from the encounter specialists’ prosperity. One of the reasons some of them were courted by political parties was that they not only could fund their own elections, but also had the wherewithal to make substantial donations to the party fund.
Hum sab system ka hissa hai...system decide karta hai, apun follow karta hai
But when the going was good, they were in newspapers nearly every week, dressed in flak jackets peering over a blood-soaked body. The story that would be sold to the newspapers every time there was an encounter used to be comical. The "criminal/terrorist" fired at the cops. Cops retaliated and killed him. Every time, a poor constable would end up in hospital with "bullet grazed his arm or leg" injury to make the encounter look genuine. The stories of rivalries between encounter squads were legendary and scorecards were maintained. Soon, there were whispers of gangs using these trigger-happy cops to bump off rivals. Also, there were reports of cops mediating in business disputes – mainly related to land. The encounter specialists’ multiplying wealth also became the talk of the town. Vaze, now everybody knows, had access to half-a-dozen luxury cars – from Mercs to Toyota Prados. It will, however, be naïve to assume that the "system" did not benefit from the encounter specialists’ prosperity. One of the reasons some of them were courted by political parties was that they not only could fund their own elections, but also had the wherewithal to make substantial donations to the party fund.