Law Kumar Mishra
Patna/Bhopal, December 16
Sanjeev Kumar Singh, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of 1987-batch from Madhya Pradesh cadre, would be honored with a revolver for successfully resolving an abduction case.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh will present the revolver to Sanjeev Kumar Singh’s wife Jyoti at a function in Bhopal on Friday. A decorated officer who had a long stint with the country’s premier probe wing, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), passed away last year due to COVID-19 complications. He had also served in the Border Security Force (BSF).
The incident for which Sanjeev Kumar Singh has been awarded dates back to January 12, 2004 when leading industrialist of Satna (Madhya Pradesh) Tirath Prasad Gupta was abducted from an area under the orbit of Uchehara police station. The incident unleased a reign of terror among the industrialists as the kidnappers demanded a whopping Rs 5 crore for his release.
The incident was fastidiously planned as the criminals used to make calls from different states to confuse the investigating agencies about their location. The caller rang from Nepal, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Even money transactions were necessitated through the Hawala route at Dubai and other countries.
The strategy of the criminals made it a daunting task for the investigating officials to get a clue about their whereabouts. The case was handed over to the Special Task Force (STF).
Sanjeev Kumar Singh was then Deputy Inspector General of Police with Crime Investigation Department (CID) of Madhya Pradesh police. He received some vital inputs from his sources that led to establish the involvement of Anil Singh alias Company Singh and Vikram Singh alias Mangal Singh in the case. Their location was traced in Patna (Bihar).
Interestingly, the officer also hails from Bihar’s Samastipur district. On February 29, 2004, Sanjeev Kumar Singh got an important information that Anil Singh was reaching a specific point in Patna. He was apprehended and interrogated to know the whereabouts of abducted industrialists.
Based on the tip off provided by Anil Singh, the officials and personnel from STF, and Bihar Police stormed the place and successfully freed Tirath Prasad Gupta. The family members later voluntarily handed over a cheque of Rs 10 lakh to MP Police for the successful operation that Sanjeev Kumar Singh had meticulously designed.
