Time and again the UP government has been questioned on the dipping law and order scenario in the state. As Farrukhabad woke up to a nightmarish situation when a man Subhash Batham took two dozen children hostage on January 30, the UP government led by the UP CM Yogi Adityanath spearheaded a marathon operation to free the children and pin down the perpetrator.
He held a high-level meeting in Farrukhabad on the issue of hostage of children. Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary (Home), DGP, ADGP Law and Order were present in this meeting. CM Yogi took full information of the incident and ordered the authorities to evacuate the children. The Quick Response Team and the Special Operations Group team were present on the spot.
Yogi Adityanath had pulled up officials for “wasting four hours doing nothing” to rescue the 23 children taken hostage.
The Chief Minister also made sure to coordinate with the Centre for NSG commandos and directed officials to send ATS and QRT teams to Farukkhabad.
CM Yogi gave clear instructions to the officers that saving children is a priority. But keep in mind that nothing should happen to any child. By engaging the criminal in conversation, the police entered the house and carried out the operation to get the children out safely. Working on the same strategy, the police got a 9-month-old girl safely rescued at around 10 pm. Also kept the criminal involved in conversations.
After 10 hours of hard work by the police, all the children were rescued from the miscreant’s hands. The CM named it ‘Operation Masoom’. He himself monitored the entire operation.
Subhash Batham was a resident of Karthia village considered a vicious crook. The cops on duty interestingly had first tried to handle the situation by talking to the people and organizing consultations. When Subhash Batham took to some really violent ways by firing and hurling bombs injuring people, the cops changed their tactical gameplan. Even villagers faced problems in the process. With things spiralling out of hands, the high command of the state government in Lucknow had already been intimated. Outgoing DGP OP Singh was handling things personally, but now eventually even the CM Yogi Adityanath had taken up things to his stride. He now took up the reins of the operation in his own hand. He cancelled all meetings and programmes only to ensure the 23 children in custody were freed. He called a meeting of the crisis management team immediately.
He ordered the ATS Commandos to be sent for the job and even the NSG was told to be active. As the meeting continued, the ADG ATS part of the meeting was immediately ordered to make a move to the spot of crime by the UP CM. Till a little past midnight, CM Yogi continued to monitor the operation personally. Till such time that all children did not reach home safely.
Those part of the operation followed the instructions in toto, that not even one single child should face a single injury. The primary idea was to ensure a safe rescue of the children. In late hours of the night, Subash Batham was gunned down and all 23 children were freed.
For the police this was an operation that was one of the toughest operations to carry out. Things had started taking a rather serious turn when the children had not returned to their respective homes. By three o’clock in the afternoon, he gathered 23 children of the village. Then he locked all the children in the house. When the children did not return for long, Babli, the wife of the neighbouring order, reached her house to call her daughter Khushi and son Aditya. When she knocked on the door, Subhash refused to open it. When she insisted more, he said that first call Lalu of the village. When she refused, he started abusing him. On this, Babli came to her house and informed the family.
Subhash allegedly had taken these kids into custody on the sly, in the name of his daughter’s birthday party. He not only had illegal weapons, he also had explosives that could do extensive damage. In a bid to ensure a massive explosion he had already setup a number of LPG cylinders.
One of the mothers had infact reached the house of the perpetrator at quarter to 4. A voice from inside reportedly said that I will kill all and set the house on fire.
The villagers informed the police. UP 112 cops reached the village and tried to open the door. But he still did not open the door. Distressed, UP 112 cops reported to the Kotwali Inspector. Inspector Rakesh Kumar arrived at the scene along with the police force. When they asked the perpetrator to open the door, the vicious criminal started firing bullets. Not only this, he also threw a hand grenade from inside, in which Inspector, Dewan Jayveer of PRV and soldier Anil Ghalaya were affected which led to the police to retreat.
On getting the information, the regional MLA Nagendra Singh also reached the spot. When he tried to convince the accused via a loud speaker in presence of the police, he fired. The MLA also had to retreat. Everyone was praying for the safety of their children. After the information of this incident, the top police officers and administrative officers also reached the spot.
Aarti, Soni, Satyabhan, Arun, Anjali, Lavi, Bhanu, Khushi, Muskan, Aditya, Vineet, Payal, Prashant, Nancy, Akash, Laxmi, Arun, Gauri, Sonam, Lovkumar, Shabnam, Ganga, Jumna and Krishna and one other were in custody.
Police claim during the conversation, the criminal once said that per child, give one crore rupees, or a total of 23 crore rupees, I will leave everyone. He also said that punishment has been done earlier also. I am not afraid. The police kept on convincing him to give him some time, but meanwhile, suddenly his attitude changed. He said I do not want to talk, I am going to blow up the house. As cops and villagers saw what was happening, the criminal opened a several rounds of fire.
A highly tense woman informed the villagers, soon after which the newly setup 112 police arrived on the spot, the criminal started firing. When the police and people present on the spot tried to convince him, he kept mumbling strange things and kept firing in between. During this time, when the local MLA arrived, he fired. Not only this, he also threw bombs. In this, villagers Anupam Dubey, Kotwal Rakesh Kumar, Dewan Jayveer Singh and soldier Anil Kumar were injured.
According to the information received from the CM office, it was a very difficult operation, because 23 children, both small and big, who were taken hostage by a freak criminal. The only threat was coming from inside again and again that I will kill everyone, I will blow up the house.
Some villagers noticed sudden spreading of inflammable substances. A blast also came from inside, which he used near a door. After this, with the help of the villagers, the police broke the door of the back of the house and entered inside the house. Scared children were imprisoned inside the house in a corner of the basement in the dark. Seeing the police entering, the criminal started firing on the police. The culprit was killed in retaliation.
Here, after the murder of accused Subhash, his wife Ruby tried to escape, the villagers caught her and tried beating her up. The police rescued an injured Ruby from the mob and admitted her to the hospital for treatment where she died.
Yogi Adityanath ended the meeting only after 1.30 a.m. when the captor was killed and the 23 children safely rescued. Reportedly heads could roll in coming days in Farrukhabad because the chief minister is upset on the lackadaisical approach.
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