New Delhi: The criminal record of Mangesh Yadav – whose killing by the police in a controversial “encounter” has triggered a political storm in Uttar Pradesh – started three years ago when he was allegedly caught snatching a mobile phone on a stolen bike. On the basis of these two non-violent charges, Yadav was designated a ‘gangster’ by the state police in 2021.
Mangesh, who was in his early twenties, was shot dead by the UP Police Special Task Force on September 5 after he was accused of being involved in a major dacoity in a jewellery shop in Sultanpur on August 28. His family and the Opposition parties have accused the police of executing him in a staged “encounter” and also questioned the official version that he was involved in the dacoity. The under fire UP police on September 12 released CCTV footage of the dacoity and claimed that one of the five men – his head was covered by a helmet – in the jewellery shop was Mangesh Yadav.
We trace Mangesh Yadav’s involvement with the world of crime and law – from his arrest for trying to snatch a mobile phone to being booked for attempt to murder on September 5, 2024, a few hours after he was shot dead by the UP STF.
In all, there were 10 FIRs in which Mangesh was implicated by the police, including some lodged against unknown persons. Prior to the August 28 dacoity case, Mangesh had seven FIRs against him, all linked to petty crimes of motorbike and mobile theft. The Wire has details of all the criminal cases against him.
It all began in Karaundi Kalan police station in Sultanpur when an FIR was lodged against unknown persons on July 11, 2021 for the theft of a bike. One Govardhan Nishad found his bike stolen in Budapur Purva Virval village where he had gone to watch an orchestra performance late at night on June 26. The FIR, however, was lodged two weeks later, on July 11. Police arrested Mangesh for the crime after his name surfaced in their investigation. But he was arrested for the first time on September 1, 2021 when police claimed to have found him trying to allegedly snatch a mobile phone while riding the stolen bike belonging to Nishad.
While pleading for bail in the bike theft case, Mangesh pointed out that he was not named in the FIR, which was itself registered after undue delay.
Mangesh told a local court in Sultanpur that he would often visit the neighbouring Pratappur village where his relatives lived. In the village he would sometimes play cricket with the local boys. During one such cricket match, Mangesh said he got involved in a “political” argument with another boy, Mohit Pandey. This escalated and Mangesh accused Pandey of threatening him with harm.
On September 1, 2021, Mangesh alleged, Pandey, his father and another associate, assaulted him over the previous dispute. The three men held him hostage and planted a phone on him when he fell unconscious, alleged Mangesh. The Pandey father-son duo accused him of stealing the mobile phone.
This was the second criminal case in which Mangesh was implicated, and the first in which he was directly named as accused. The FIR was lodged on September 2, 2021, at Karaundi Kalan police station a day after his arrest, on the complaint of Mohit Pandey. Mangesh was charged with robbery and dishonestly retaining stolen goods.
Mangesh Yadav. Photo: By arrangement.
In the FIR, Pandey alleged that on September 1, 2021 when he, along with his friends, was walking back home from a coaching class at around 7 pm, three men on a bike drove from behind and tried to snatch his phone. The bike lost control near a school and Pandey’s friends rushed to his help. Two out of the three men on the bike escaped while the third was caught, alleged Pandey. This third person was Mangesh, who was arrested.
While pleading for bail in the case, Mangesh repeated the same story in his defence that he did in the bike theft case, accusing Pandey of colluding with the local police to implicate him in a fabricated case.
On October 26, 2021, an additional sessions judge granted him bail in the mobile theft matter. A few days later, on November 1, a sessions judge Santosh Rai granted Mangesh bail in the bike theft case, taking into consideration his argument that the case has been lodged after a lot of delay and that he was not named in the original FIR.
The third criminal case against Mangesh was lodged under the stringent Gangsters Act, a law that the Adityanath government has often been accused of misusing against its political opponents, common citizens and suspects. Along with “encounter” shootings, the Adityanath era in UP has been defined by the unfettered use of The Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities Prevention Act 1986). From March 2017 to March 2023 alone, the state police had lodged 20,068 FIRs under the Act and arrested 64,039 persons.
The UP Gangsters Act defines a gangster as a member or leader or organiser of a gang and includes any person who abets or assists in the activities of a gang. According to the act, a gang is a group of persons who act either individually or collectively by violence or threat or show of violence or intimidation or coercion with the object of disturbing order or gaining any undue temporal, pecuniary, material or other advantage for himself or any other person. Given the unrestrained use of the Act by the Adityanath government, it was not unusual that Mangesh Yadav, accusing of petty crimes of stealing a bike and a mobile phone, was slapped with Section 3 (1) of the Act on May 1, 2022. The FIR was lodged by the Station House Officer of Karaundi Kalan Amrendra Bahadur Singh.
Also read: Amid Outrage, Adityanath Backs Police After Controversial ‘Encounter’ Killing of a Yadav Youth
Along with Mangesh, another person Ajay Yadav alias ‘DM’ was also booked under the Gangsters Act. Ajay Yadav would go on to be booked and arrested in other crimes of bike theft along with Mangesh and was also an accused in the recent dacoity case in Sultanpur. Ajay Yadav has a bounty on his head.
In the FIR invoking the Gangsters Act, SHO Singh said that Mangesh was a member of a gang led by Ajay Yadav. A gang chart was prepared to control the activities of the “gang.” The police alleged that Mangesh and his alleged gang members engaged in loot, theft and snatching crimes to provide financial and material benefits to the gang members.
“People of the region feel unsafe due to their terror and fear. No person dares to write a complaint or statement against them,” said SHO Singh.
The fourth FIR against Mangesh was lodged at Line Bazar police station in Jaunpur against unknown accused persons on September 19, 2022 for a bike theft case. The actual crime, however, was reported to have taken place on August 12. Complainant Abhilash Agrahari alleged that he had parked his bike outside a doctor’s clinic but when he returned he could not find it. The initial FIR was lodged against unknown persons but during investigation, police said, Mangesh’s name surfaced. Mangesh was sent to jail on December 23, 2022 after police arrested him, and two others, Imran Ali and Ajay Yadav, allegedly with the stolen bike at a checkpoint.
On January 23, 2023 an additional sessions judge in Jaunpur granted Mangesh bail.
Also read: ‘Killed Because of His Caste’: Opposition Erupts as UP Police Kills Yadav Man in an ‘Encounter’
The fifth case – lodged in Patti police station in Pratapgarh – was also linked to bike theft. According to the FIR lodged on December 7, 2022, law student Mahendra Pratap had his bike stolen on December 2. The FIR was lodged against unknown persons but Mangesh, Ajay and Imran were accused by the police.
The sixth case against Mangesh was also related to a bike theft. The FIR was registered on December 21, 2022 when one Vikram Singh said that his bike was stolen from near a shop in Line Bazar area of Jaunpur. In this case, too, police said they arrested Mangesh, Ali and Ajay Yadav at a checkpoint with a stolen bike.
Mangesh’s family claim that after he was arrested in connection with the first two offences in 2021, police started rounding him up whenever they had a stolen bike case.
“Kuch bhi hota tha. Koi nahi milta tha, usko utha lete thay (If anything happened, and if they failed to catch anyone, they would come for Mangesh and implicate him),” said Mangesh’s cousin Adesh Yadav, who studies at the Allahabad University.
UP Police at the site of Mangesh Yadav’s ‘encounter’. His blood has been blurred.
Adesh also said argued that Mangesh had no criminal cases against him at his local police station Baksha in Jaunpur and did not have a record of any such misdemeanours in his native village Agraura.
The seventh case against Mangesh was lodged in Jaunpur by a police sub-inspector Ashutosh Gupta on December 23, 2022. Gupta alleged that police intercepted a bike with three persons – Mangesh, Ajay and Imran – at a crossing. The police alleged they recovered Rs 1,200 in cash and three bikes from the accused persons. The cash was allegedly linked to the sale of a stolen bike, said police.
Gupta said that the police recovered two stolen bikes from Mangesh’s house and the number plate of a stolen bike.
The eight FIR against Mangesh is a contentious one. According to the UP police, a few days before the August 28 dacoity, Mangesh stole a bike in Jaunpur. The bike was allegedly among the two stolen bikes used to escape after the dacoity. However, the sequence of events has raised several questions.
The FIR was lodged at Jaunpur Kotwali at 8.11 pm on August 28, hours after the dacoity incident. The FIR related to the dacoity, which took place around 12.45 pm, was registered at 5.43 pm. What’s stark is that the bike theft FIR was lodged after the dacoity FIR even though the crime reportedly took place on August 20. According to the complainant Mohammad Nasim, at around 2 pm on August 20, the bike he had parked outside a hospital, where his mother was under treatment, went missing.
The ninth FIR was lodged in connection with the Sultanpur dacoity case. The 10th FIR was lodged on September 5, a few hours after Mangesh was shot dead by the UP STF in an alleged “encounter”.
Mangesh’s family have dismissed the police story and alleged that Mangesh was picked up from his home by the police on the intervening night of September 2 and 3, kept in illegal custody for two days allegedly for questioning and then shot dead in a fabricated extra-judicial killing. The UP police have dismissed this allegation and on September 12 released two undated videos of Mangesh’s mother and sister telling police that Mangesh had been in Mumbai from the last three months. When SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was asked about this at a press conference on September 12, he quipped, “Where did the motorcycle come from, didn’t you ask them this?”
In the final FIR, a customary one in cases of “encounter” shootings, Mangesh was booked for attempt to murder and for carrying illegal arms. He was accused of allegedly firing at the police, who claimed that they fired back at him–killing him in the process–in self-defence.
The Wire tried to speak to Mohit Pandey and Mohammad Nasim but was unable to reach them for comment.
