Tight vigil in distts bordering Odisha for Guddu Muslim

 

 

Amid stray inputs of Guddu Muslim alias Guddu Bambaz – an accused in Umesh Pal murder case and close aide of deceased gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed – might have sneaked into Chhattisgarh through its porous borders with neighbouring Odisha, Raipur Range Police has stepped up the vigil to many folds at all its bordering districts.

Fears of heightened vigil by Raipur Range Police were justified in the wake of a major search operation conducted by Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh Police at Bhatli area of Bargarh district, a couple of days ago. However, Guddu was reported to have fled before the raids, followed by grilling of few people in Bhatli area, reported to be having links with Guddu Muslim, the crude bomb specialist. Bargarh district accessible through National Highway-53, is situated around 181 kilometers from Mahasamund district of Chhattisgarh.

Talking to ‘The Hitavada’ over phone, Raipur Range IG Shaikh Arif Husen said that he has asked the concerned SPs, whose districts share borders with Odisha, to step up the vigil multi-fold levels, even as there has been no official communication to his office from his UP and Odisha counterparts regarding the reports of Guddu Muslim having sneaked into Chhattisgarh for hiding.

“Apart from our active intelligence and wide-spread network of informers, we also have our 24x7 alert border check-posts with Odisha at multiple locations. All suspected vehicles and individuals making entry into our state through the bordering districts are very well accounted for and no one can escape from our vigilant eyes,” Husen maintained. In between, talking to local media person, Odisha’s Northern Range IG Deepak Kumar, under whose authoritative jurisdiction Bargarh district falls in, also confirmed the visit of UP STF team to his state. Meanwhile, as per reports received here, a 5-member team of UP STF grilled one youth in connection with the hiding of Guddu Muslim in the state of Odisha. “The team stayed in Bargarh for two consecutive days during which they grilled the youth having links with the driver of the 50-year-old fugitive, now the most wanted criminal in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The visiting STF also sought the cooperation of the local police in their probe and took up some investigation as per the provisions in the CrPC,” said the reports. Also, unconfirmed reports stated that the STF also seized some specific items from the possession of the youth they interrogated and took them with them to Uttar Pradesh for their probe. It is pertinent here to mention that Guddu Muslim has been named as one among the 10 accused in the Umesh Pal murder FIR. However, six of them have been killed whereas Guddu Muslim along with three, are still on the run.