'Mafia involved in procuring govt contracts, real estate'

Mafia in eastern Uttar Pradesh are strengthening their hold over the real estate business and running their writ in procuring government contracts, according to a letter by a senior officer.
IG, Varanasi zone, G L Meena, in a letter sent to all the police officers of his zone on July 17, said mafia dons are pulling strings for procuring government contracts for sand mining, liquor, among others and are also involved in the real estate business, police sources said.
In the letter, Meena has written that this is a matter of concern and in view of recent criminal incidents, there is a need to rework the strategy to check the activities of mafia gangs, the sources said.

The IG has asked police officers to keep a lookout on the activities of alleged mafia Mukhtar Ansari, Brijesh Singh, Munna Bajrangi, Haider Ali, Vishwas Sharma, Abhishek Singh, Kaushal Chaubey, Guddu Singh and Gulab Singh, the sources said.
In the 13 points mentioned in the letter, he called for secret inquiry into the involvement of mafia in government contracts, locating their gang members and those providing them shelter, collecting information about properties acquired through wrong means and initiating steps for its seizure.
The letter also directs for inquiry into illegal realisation of money by these elements from markets and vehicle stands, besides collecting information about the arms licenses of their friends and family members, they said.

The IG has asked his officials to carry out a special 10- day drive in this regard.
When contacted, SP, Ballia, Omkar Singh confirmed he had received such a letter, after which 90 active criminals were identified in the district and a four-member team was constituted for the arrest of Kaushal Chaubey, who is carrying a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh on his head.
Chaubey's name had cropped up in the shooting of an irrigation department engineer, the SP said.