Anand Pal Singh had his share of life when he was alive. Coming from a small village, he dreamt of a normal life. The first aim he had in life, was to become a teacher and lead a normal middle-class life. However, his unsuccessful entry in Politics and bitter relationship with a few local politicians made him enter the world of crime.
2001 was the first time when Anand Pal Singh entered the scene of the crime and he quickly rose to become one of the most dangerous crime-masters in the state. A number of politicians, from BJP as well Congress, used him for their benefits and Anand Pal Singh went on to become deadly, dangerous and unstoppable.
After he killed his once best friend, Anand Pal Singh was sent to jail, however, he was granted a bail in less than 2 months time. After getting bail, he got support from some of the biggest names in Rajasthan politics, with that support, Anand Pal Singh kept on getting stronger and added over 100 members in his gang.
The rivalry between Rajputs and Jats in Rajasthan goes long way back. Anand Pal Singh gave it a new flavour. Though he belonged to Ravana Rajput community, a community considered lower in status as compared to mainstream Rajputs, Anand Pal was always up for the betterment of Rajputs and was always willing to help people in need. The gesture, which made him a hero in the eyes of millions of Rajputs across the state. By the time he was again arrested in 2013, he became a hero for the youth of Rajputs and other communities in Rajasthan. Growing penetration of social media helped him spread his message and his official and unofficial accounts had thousands of followers, who hailed him like their idol and vouched to support every move of him.
In 2013, Anand Pal Singh was arrested from a farm house in Jaipur. However, this time, it wasn’t like 2007. He was a noted criminal, who was not going to get bail so easily. Also, he was way too famous and popular as compared to 2007, which meant that his followers and supporters were trying their best to get him released.
The period of less than 2 years, which he spent in Jail, had a lot of happening events. Anand Pal Singh grew in status and his fan base exploded. He operated his gang from inside the jail and was equally helped by the ministers and politicians within the government. The greed of being a free man again made him flee from the security in 2015, when he was being taken back to Ajmer jail after a trail in Churu court.
The escape of Anand Pal Singh was so dramatic, that it remained in the national headlined for quite some time. It played a big part in establishing the credentials of Anand Pal Singh as the biggest gangster in Rajasthan. It was the time when he got an open licence to pursue his crimes and the government and security forces remained helpless in tracking him. Over the last one and a half years, Anand Pal Singh continued to change his base and remained away from the reach of Police. Once again, before the night of 24th June, he was in front of the police, however, he managed to successfully escape.
After he was encountered on 24th June, there have been a lot of speculations about the suspicious involvement of government. Government hasn’t done anything to clear the doubts and the pressure mounted by Rajput community leaders has surely dragged the government on backfoot.
On the first morning after Anand Pal Singh was killed in action with police forces, Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi, National Chief of Rajput Karni Sena, reached the residence of Anand Pal and declared a protest against the government. The main demands included a second postmortem to reveal the exact case of death, CBI investigation into the alleged encounter, release of the relatives of APS and releasing the seized property belonging to APS and his relatives.
The government seemed reluctant in the first phase, turning itself away from any involvement in the case. However, the increased pressure from the community and growing anger has moved the government from its stance.
On Tuesday, 27th June 2017, the police had warned the family of conducting the final rituals of the body, if it was not accepted by the family in next 24 hours. This announcement made Rajputs fierce and thousands of people started to gather in Sanvrad, APS’s village as well as around the hospital, where the body was kept. Family of Anand Pal reached out to the court asking for a stay on the police order. At a point, it seemed that the government had made its mind of ending things the bitter way, however, finally it accepted the demand of a second postmortem and declared that the police would wait for the family to accept the body.
Earlier in the day, after conducting the postmortem at a Churu hospital, Police handed over the body to his family. The family is now waiting for his daughter to return from Dubai to do the final rituals.
The government and the Rajput community, both seem against each other as of now. To suppress the agitation, Rajasthan Government has imposed section 144 in various localities of Churu and Naguar. Under 144, it is prohibited for the individuals to come out on roads in groups. Also, the government has stopped the internet services in the area, so that the community members can not communicate to make further strategy.
After accepting the body, the family members have clearly stated that the demand of CBI investigation is still on and the protest will not be called off without proper response from the government. Government’s silence on the case further creates doubts about its involvement. The opposition has openly come against the government and we might expect some political drama in the coming days. At a time, when the country is talking of GST, Rajasthan and its citizens have another thing to talk about, and that is the dead man, Anand Pal Singh Didwana.