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Hit The Hitman

Daya 'Encounter' Nayak fails the lucre test, is on the run<a href=pti_coverage.asp?gid=69 target=_blank> Updates</a>

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Hit The Hitman
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Nayak's anticipatory bail application is ironical, to say the least. The disgraced SI pleaded that he would "lose his job if he was arrested, his enemies would then succeed in getting him ousted from their way and gangsters would be happy to take revenge if he was sent to jail". He added that he had done all possible kinds of jobs to make ends meet while studying, that his "glorious service record of 80 encounters was appreciated by his superiors" and how the ACB, while "conducting a search of his house, had found 10 trophies and mementos". His lawyer argued that Nayak's arrest was uncalled for because the case was of disproportionate assets and did not require custodial interrogation.

That Nayak is finally in the net is hardly surprising. It's rankled at least some of the police top brass that he's stayed a beat ahead for close to three years despite incriminating information. An internal report last year confirmed some of Tirodkar's allegations but Nayak remained untouchable. For police commissioner A.N. Roy, who initiated a quiet cleansing operation of a police bureaucracy left behind by the Telgi scam-accused R.S. Sharma and his coteries in the Crime Branch, Nayak was a constant reminder of how the best intentions can be undone by political clout. Nayak's proximity to a former state home minister is an open secret. His bravado and an I-am-even-bigger-than-the-commissioner attitude obviously flourished under political patronage. A withdrawal of that finally allowed the rule of law to prevail against him.

For Roy and large segments of the Mumbai police, Nayak represents the worst side of them—as deplorable as the cops caught in rape cases last year. The quiet weeding-out operation has so far meant that 10 inspectors—many of them heading the encounter teams—along with a dozenASIs and SIs have been shunted to less powerful positions. They have now been assigned regular police duties or administrative jobs. Sources in the Mumbai police say the Crime Branch now appears a part of the team; for 10 years, it had assumed an image larger than that of the entire force. Many like Nayak operated to their own unwritten writ, contributing to that process.

Not too long ago, Nayak was busy showing actor Nana Patekar the nuances of being a celebrated encounter cop. In Nayak-inspired films like Ab Tak Chappan, Aan and Kagaar, the hero walks away the champion. That turn in the script is unlikely here, and Nayak alone is responsible for it.

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