BHOPAL, APRIL 20: ``I had a hearty laugh when I heard of my death in a police encounter!'' said Ram Babu Gaderia, a notorious dacoit of Gwalior, as he appeared in police custody last week - 15 months after he was supposed to have been killed in a police encounter. Gaderia appeared thrilled at being brought back to life after remaining dead in the police files. Not so much the policemen who arrested him on April 15, putting an end to a controversy which started the day he was declared dead - January 7, 1999.For the Gaderia case - not unusual in the annals of anti-dacoity operations of MP, UP and Rajasthan police - has a strong sub-theme in which policemen, politicians and outlaws play hide-and-seek, mixing myth with reality. It has left the state's Chief Minister Digvijay Singh embarrassed. The police top brass is too stunned to answer the question: Who was the man killed by police that day? And what crimes had he committed to meet such an end?It all began when the Shivpuri police produced a mutilated body on January 7 last year. Claiming it was bandit Ram Babu, jubilant cops hurriedly organised felicitation by the CM himself. What happened on the occasion is disputed. A photograph of the CM posing with the police team and the DIG and the SP of the area is the only surviving evidence. The BJP alleged the CM had awarded policemen and pinned a star on its leader, SI Ashok Tomar, to signify his promotion. The government denied this. A section of jealous policemen tipped journalists that the encounter was fake and reports questioning the identity of the victim started appearing in the press.But the officialdom stuck to its guns. Ram Babu had been identified by his relatives, neighbours and the patvari of his village, it maintained.Since Digvijay Singh had got involved, his political opponents were unwilling to let the matter rest. BJP MLA Narendra Bharathare raised the issue in the state Assembly. He alleged the police had killed Banwari Dhakar of Parichha and not dacoit Ram Babu. Barthare produced affidavits from Banwari's relatives identifying him with the help of photographs of the deceased with the police. Since Banwari was missing from his village, the police found it difficult to disprove the accusation. The State government ordered a commissioner-level inquiry.While the Commissioner (Gwalior) was inquiring, some people approached the district human rights court in Shivpuri and through it the investigative branch of the state human rights commission which also started its probe.Banwari returned to the scene in the midst of these probes, confounding the confusion. He told policemen that he had run away to Hardwar six months back and become a sadhu.Demolition of the BJP's case should have come as a relief to the state police. However, the DNA tests conducted by the human rights commission investigators had by this time established conclusively that the deceased was not dacoit Ram Babu.Desperate policemen then approached his sister Ramshree - who had won the sarpanch's election during the interval - to produce her bandit brother. But she refused to trust the police. Both Barthare and Ramshree, however, told the district human rights court recently that Ram Babu was alive but was not coming out for fear that the policemen would gun him down. The court had assured Ramashee and Bharthare that it would guarantee Ram Babu's safety if he was produced before it. The two were trying to organise a surrender when Ram Babu was arrested in the jungles of Syao village in Gwalior last week.Now smile is back on the BJP faces. The government and the police are struggling to explain the story.
