Moon Gazer continues……

Besides details on active criminals from Guna district who could be operating in Delhi, my sub-inspector brought back with him a sample of a ‘daulatiya’—a multipurpose housebreaking-implement-cum-weapon-of-offence   used  by the criminals of the tribal community. ‘Daulatiya’, as the name suggests, means an implement that aids in earning ‘daulat’ (wealth). Made of wrought iron, it had a long handle with a sickle-shaped head and a short sharp tip on the top.

The daulatiya was shown to all officers and men of the south district in a specially convened meeting. Everyone was briefed that if the implement was found on any person or at the scene of a crime, a red flag should be raised immediately. Posters with images of the daulatiya were put up at all police stations and police posts as we geared up for the next cycle of dark nights.

On the night of 16–17 March 1992, a police party consisting of Constable Suresh Yadav (later promoted out of turn to the rank of head constable) and home guards Mohinder Singh and Vijay Kumar was patrolling the lanes and by-lanes of B block, Kalkaji, where thefts of car stereos were rampant. Constable Suresh Yadav kept an eye out for suspicious movements between the rows of cars parked in the dimly lit colony. He suddenly spotted four derelicts lurking among the cars. The constable alerted the two home guards and they tried to surround the suspects. The four miscreants, however, slipped away in different directions with one of them running towards the adjoining residential colony, Chittaranjan Park. The brave constable ran after him and saw him scale the 7-foot boundary wall of a bungalow and jump into its compound. The constable climbed on to the wall and probed the area along it with his lathi. He suddenly felt his long cane touch what felt like a human body. He signalled the home guards to enter the compound.

To be continued…