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The man behind Dara's arrest

Bibhuti Mishra in Baripada

The man instrumental in arresting dreaded Dara Singh was posted at Mayurbhanj just three weeks back. But Superintendent of Police Y B Khurania would not comment on whether his predecessors had not tried hard enough.

What, however, he is happy to share with everyone is the immaculate planning that went into trapping the "When I joined duty at Mayurbhanj there was immense pressure on my men what with the assembly elections approaching and a large contingent of police force deployed in tracking Dara. So we set ourselves a deadline - January 31 - to arrest him. I am glad we stuck to it,'' said Khurania.

The success did not come so easy. After Khurania took over, Dara Singh frustrated the police thrice. "He was extremely suspicious and was sleeping out in the open. I have a feeling that he was also losing faith in his close associates," Khurania said.

"We selected police officers and personnel who had knowledge of this area and its topography. We located people who knew Dara and his movements. Sources were cultivated and through them we came to know that he was looking for a gun for elephant hunting. An undercover policeman got in touch with one of the mediators and convinced Dara that he had a gun to sell,'' he added.

Khurania also took some precautionary steps like not using police vehicles, and uniformed men. His teams tried their best to avoid taking village routes as information about the police movements was travelling quickly to Dara.

In the final operation last night, about 30 police personnel - both uniformed and in mufti - reached Guharia in Patnagarh block of Keonjhar district after walking seven kilometres.

From there a police party of six men, including Khurania, walked another 2 km closely following the undercover carrying the gun for Dara.

Dara was there in an open space adjoining a dense jungle with one of his associates, Trinath. He was not given any chance to offer resistance and was overpowered.

Balram Sagar, officer in charge of Thakurmunda police station, who was the first to catch hold of Dara, said: ''As soon as I caught hold of him he said: 'don't shoot I am Dara'. Trinath, however, managed to escape.

Dara was immediately taken to the Kuliana police station about 20 km away from Baripada. He was brought before the press, but inexplicably with his face covered.

rediff.com spoke to some villagers who said that he (Dara) ''looks exactly as he does in photographs but a little thinner."

The DIG (eastern range), Sushil Pradhan, said Dara would be produced before a judicial magistrate within 24 hours and then handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The CBI team is flying to Baripada today.

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