D. P. Yadav

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Dharam Pal Yadav is a mafia don turned politician in India. He served as member of the Rajya Sabha in the Indian Parliament, under the banner of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Yadav entered the clandestine country liquor trade as a protégé of Mahendra Singh Bhati, a criminal turned politician, in the late 1970s. The first case was registered against him in 1979 in the Kavi Nagar police station of Ghaziabad. ^[1]

He has been charged in nine murder cases, three cases of attempted murder, two cases of dacoity, many cases of kidnapping for extortion, as well as various crimes under the Excise Act, Gangsters' Act, and even the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act. The cases were filed in the districts of Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Moradabad, Badayun in western Uttar Pradesh, and in Jind and Sirsa districts in Haryana.

In one of the cases filed against Yadav in Haryana in the early 1990s, illicit liquor supplied by him was responsible for the death of 350 people. ^{[2] [1]}

By 1991 after he had entered politics, he had some 25 criminal cases registered against him. During the BJP regime of chief minister Kalyan Singh, he was arrested under the National Security Act. In 1992 he was accused by the CBI of murdering his erstwhile mentor Mahendra Singh Bhatti. This is one of the many unresolved cases pending against him.

In the system used by the Indian Police called "history sheet", hardened criminals are rated A or B; A are those who have some potential for being reformed; B are the incorrigibles. DP Yadav is a B class history-sheeter.

Since he entered politics, the cases filed against him have fallen abruptly. Today his reputation is so established that the main business (extortion) proceeds smoothly without too much actual exercise of force.

[edit] Political career

In 1989, DP Yadav joined hands with Mulayam Singh Yadav, who offered him a candidacy from Bulandshahr under his Samajwadi Party. He won handily, and became the minister for Panchayati Raj.

In 2004, Atal Bihari Vajpayee who has an otherwise clean image, faced considerable criticism for having inducted DP Yadav into his Bharatiya Janata Party, under which Yadav served on Indian Parliament's house of elders, the Rajya Sabha. ^[2] In a testimony of the increasing power of media in India that the BJP felt compelled to terminate their relationship with DP Yadav after four days of media furore.

At the time, DP Yadav maintained that his image as a mafia don was completely cooked-up, and the 25 cases against him do not mean much until concluded upon by the courts. ^[3]

[edit] Nitish Katara Murder

In 2001, DP Yadav's daughter Bharti Yadav fell in love with Nitish Katara, an executive in Delhi. DP Yadav apparently did not approve of him, and Bharti told Nitish's mother repeatedly of the dangers her son faced. Nitish was murdered, allegedly by DP Yadav's son Vikas Yadav, on the night of February 17, 2002. In a confession to the police, which was aired by the NDTV channel in May 2006, ^[4] Vikas says:

"The affair was damaging my family's reputation. I never approved of their relationship. ... Using all my strength, I hit Nitish's head with a hammer. He fainted and after a while he died. We drove one kilometre and then we threw his body onto the road.

Then we took the diesel from our car's tank, poured it on Nitish's body and we set it on fire. Then we drove to Delhi. I can help the police to find the hammer I used. I can take them to the spot where Nitish was murdered.

Vikas Yadav, his cousin Vishal, and Sukhdev Pehelwan are the key accused in the ongoing Nitish Katara case. It is possible Sukhdev Pehelwan has been done away as well as he is still absconding and is untraceable. Vikas Yadav was sentenced to Life imprisonment by a court in Delhi on 30 May 2008.^[5]

DP Yadav's name also figures in the Jessica Lal murder case, in which his son Vikas Yadav is a co-accused.

[edit] References