Have you ever had an eerie sense of familiarity upon
seeing someone or something for the first time, an old
sense of familiarity as though you had already met
earlier though your mind says that isn't possible? I
felt something of the kind when reading about Rabinder
Pal Singh, better known today as Dara Singh, the main
accused in the Stains murder case. And then the
connection hit me: Romesh Sharma.
No, Dara Singh isn't in the same league as Dawood
Ibrahim's henchman, nor is he accused to quite as many
crimes. But has anyone noticed the amazing similiarities
in the atmosphere (for want of a better word) that
permitted them to commit their crimes and the even more
amazing lax manner in which those crimes are being
investigated?
Romesh Sharma's activities took place almost entirely in
the years of Congress rule. He was the instrument used
to crush Maneka Gandhi's outfit after she broke away
from the Congress family, he was an office-bearer in the
Congress's farmers's cell, and it was Congress
governments that permitted him to continue unhampered
with all his activities in Delhi.
Yet the moment that he was arrested -- under the aegis
of a BJP-led government mind you -- the Congress
immediately turned around and accused him of having been
under BJP protection all along! Nobody bothered to
explain just how a party that was almost continuously on
the Opposition benches could have shielded someone from
the CBI.
So how does this link up with Dara Singh? Well,
everybody agrees that he has spent his life in Orissa.
That happens to be a state that has never been ruled by
the BJP, but only by the Congress and the Janata Dal in
succession. Yet the moment he achieved international
notoriety the non-BJP parties immediately dubbed him a
saffronite to the core.
It may be quite true that Dara Singh was associated with
the Bajrang Dal, but surely that organisation was in no
position to protect him from the police in Orissa. (For
the record, neither the Bajrang Dal nor the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad even has a branch in Dara Singh's home
district, but that, of course, doesn't mean that he
couldn't have been influenced by them). And yes, the
police was indeed on Dara Singh's track well before the
Stains murder. Yet the administration always seemed to
be looking the other way when the issue of bringing him
to heel arose.
The records now reveal that the Keonjhar district
administration moved for his detention under the
National Security Act. However, the superior authorities
in Bhubaneshwar sat on the recommendation for still
undisclosed reasons. Why?
But that is like asking why the Narasimha Rao government
didn't arrest Romesh Sharma in spite of the fact that
the authorities had tapped a conversation of his with
Dubai! More to the point, neither Sharma nor Dara Singh
is absconding as everyone knows. But the Orissa police
managed to lay hands on seven students and 42 others.
Now comes the amazing part -- not a single one of these
49 people has been remanded to custody. Not one!
By the way, that FIR is a pretty amazing document in its
own right. It was filed by a person who neither speaks
nor writes Oriya, but has somehow signed in a language
he doesn't know. And it is on the basis of this that the
Orissa police began its so-called investigation.
It is a well-established principle that 'well begun is
half done.' But the opposite is equally true. The FIR
the root of the investigation, is suspiciously shoddy.
The main accused is still at large in spite of the fact
that his face should now be familiar to every policeman
in Orissa (and parts beyond too). And to cap it all,
Dara Singh's supposed accomplices have been left to
wander around as they will.
It bears repetition that it is a Congress government
that rules Orissa and to which the Orissa police must
answer. Whatever the extent of Dara Singh's links with
the Sangh Parivar -- and there are undeniably some
connections -- you can't blame the Bajrang Dal for
mucking up the investigation. In plain and simply words;
why is the Orissa police doing such a lousy job of
investigating the Stains murder case?