Bloody Bhopal shootout exposes botched cop operation

BHOPAL: The bloody shootout at busy Habibganj area in Bhopal late on Saturday which left two policemen critically injured exposed the botched operation by Uttar Pradesh STF and MP police. It showed gross lack of combat preparedness and intelligence gathering by police of both states when they were trying to nab a sharpshooter, who worked as a mercenary for dreaded UP gangs of Mukhtar Ansari and Munna Bajrangi.What was shocking was that cops in civvies didn't even have a gun under their belt while confronting the hardened criminal, Anshu Dixit, who was armed to the teeth and had two accomplices to give cover.
Dixit was the same criminal, who broke cop cordon while being taken for a court hearing from Lucknow to Sitapur by feeding escorting policemen with intoxicated food on October 17 last year. Police of both states had clearly not done their homework and were sitting ducks during the shootout. Dixit is accused of twin murders in Uttar Pradesh.
After policemen lay sprawled on the ground after a trigger-happy Dixit went on a shooting spree, cops in the back-up vehicle some distance away did not even give a chase to the criminal who zipped away in his car. Not just this, they also forgot to cordon off the crime area as they got busy taking their wounded colleagues to hospital. And minutes later, Dixit had the temerity to return to the wine shop near Habibganj underbridge where he had earlier come to buy booze, to recover his cell phone. This was confirmed to TOI by employees at the wine shop.
Immediately after the shootout, Dixit along with his brother Anup and friend Kapil went back to their hideout and took their sister-in-law Puja and fled. Speaking to TOI, a police official said, "Their house at Saket Nagar was open when our team reached there in the night. They had fled."
Refusing to admit it was a botched operation, a police official told TOI "when men from our force suffered bullet injuries, we had to first save their lives. We had to take STF sub-inspector Sandeep Mishra and crime branch officer Raghvendra Pandey to hospital as they were critical."
UP STF had inputs that Dixit was holed up in Bhopal after which they got in touch with crime branch officials in Madhya Pradesh and had zeroed in on their Saket Nagar home. Police say their plan was not to nab Dixit at night, but during early hours of Sunday from their rented home.
Crime branch officials said police party were split in two separate vehicles, including a Maruti Swift and Tavera in which the STF team had come from UP. Weapons were in the Tavera that was at some distance and immediate retaliation was not possible