Born out of Operation Sindoor, how Uttarakhand's Operation Kalanemi is weeding out impostor sadhus

The Print

2 days ago

Wearing a saffron scarf around his neck, the baba was offering 'solutions' to a steady stream of people waiting to seek help with their problems.
A tent pitched by the roadside near the Uttarakhand assembly had a long queue outside it. Inside, was a religious 'baba', sitting surrounded by rice grains, rudraksha beads, vermillion powder for tilaks and other ritual paraphernalia.
New Delhi: On a warm July afternoon, a senior police officer spotted an unusual sight on his way to work in Dehradun.
When the police officer stopped to speak to him, the baba even offered him a 'remedy' that would enable him to live for at least 100 years.
'He made an audacious attempt to sell all his offerings to me even though I was a police officer. He then insisted on selling his offerings, such as a tilak or a ring and said if I wanted to become a successful politician or live for a lifespan of 100 years. After I refused all this and rather started questioning him about his background, he gave in,' said the officer.
This 'baba' was one of hundreds such individuals the Uttarakhand Police identified as part of 'Operation Kalanemi'—a statewide crackdown launched on 11 July against fake sadhus and saints cheating people in the guise of offering them solutions to their problems. In the Ramayana, Kalanemi is a demon sent by Ravana disguised as a sadhu to delay Hanuman from procuring the sanjeevani booti to save Lakshman.
Planning for the operation began following intelligence reports about the use of false identities and disguises near religious sites during Operation Sindoor—a military operation launched by the Indian armed forces to target the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan, weeks after 26 people were killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.
'In light of this (Operation Sindoor), a strategy of intensive document verification and intelligence surveillance was adopted across the state during sensitive religious events such as Kanwar Yatra and the Char Dham Yatra,' said a government official explaining the rationale behind the campaign.
Operation Kalanemi, launched on the instructions of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, has so far led to the identification of more than 500 impostors after verifying 2,448 suspected sadhus roaming across the hilly state, officials told ThePrint. So far, the state police have arrested 144 such suspects, while 337 have been let off after a declaration before an executive magistrate pledging not to repeat the acts.
'Just as the demon Kalanemi tried to mislead people by disguising himself as a saint, similarly, there are many 'Kalanemi' active in society today who are committing crimes in religious garb,' Dhami said on 10 July. 'Our government is fully committed to protecting public sentiments, the dignity of Sanatan culture and maintaining social harmony. Those who spread hypocrisy in the name of faith will not be spared under any circumstances.'
The operation coincides with the huge influx of Kanwariyas and devotees from outside the state who undertake pilgrimages during this season. Many of them head to the holy towns of Haridwar, Rishikesh and Kedarnath, which draw lakhs of pilgrims at this time.
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From Operation Sindoor to Operation Kalanemi
According to sources in the state government, police have in the past too identified such impersonators who use religious events and gatherings to dupe people. But this time, the crackdown was conducted in a more systematic manner.
Officials said that the previous operations were more routine and localised in nature, where district police used to deal with offences on a case-by-case basis.
In contrast, Operation Kalanemi is a more detailed drive launched by the police after top police officials at the police headquarters, led by the Director General of Police (DGP) Deepam Seth, formulated plans at Dhami's instructions, added the source.
Differentiating between Operation Kalanemi and past cases of routine policing, a senior police officer said that Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) teams in each district have now been empowered to identify such suspects and file a complaint at the local police station. Usually, their role is to collect intelligence on suspects and pass it on to the officers.
Based on intelligence reports of religious impostors near religious sites during Operation Sindoor, the Uttarakhand government devised a strategy to identify and act against such fake sadhus.
DGP Seth explained the objectives and protocols of the operation to all 13 police districts in the state during a video conference immediately after the CM announced the campaign.
In the first 10 days of the campaign, the Haridwar district police verified the majority of 2,448 suspected sadhus, identifying 63 of them as suspicious and taking action against them. Dehradun identified 122 suspects through the verification of 398 people, followed by Tehri district police, which identified 87 suspects through the verification of 94 people.
The Nainital district Police identified 44 suspects out of 252 people verified by police personnel in the district. In Udham Singh Nagar, known for housing a population from other states, 17 were let off after a declaration, while 16 were arrested after verification of around 155 suspects.
A senior police officer attributed the higher numbers in Dehradun and Haridwar to intensive measures to identify suspects in these districts.
'The main reason for the higher number of cases emerging in Haridwar and Dehradun is twofold. Due to major religious events like the Kanwar Yatra, surveillance in these areas was extremely intense,' the senior police officer told ThePrint.
'And second, there were specific prior inputs regarding these districts, due to which a broad and strategic verification campaign was first launched here,' the officer added.
Bangladeshi 'baba', family reunite
As police patrolled Dehradun's rural areas, an LIU unit spotted a 25-year-old semi-nude man on the side of a road dressed like a sadhu with rings and lockets with pictures of Lord Shiva, Mahakal and Parshuram.
'When the said person was asked for his name/address, he could not tell us anything about himself. Passersby suspected him to be mentally ill, as he did not speak to anyone and was earning a living by begging,' an Uttarakhand Police officer noted in the complaint that formed the basis of an FIR.
However, what made the LIU cops more suspicious was his inability to speak even a word of Hindi while he could utter a few words in Bengali.
Suspecting that he might be a Bangladeshi or from the Rohingya community, police contacted a few local residents from West Bengal to help.
In conversation with them, the accused identified himself as Rukan Raqab, also known as Shah Alam, from Bangladesh's Tangail District. In his alleged confession, Alam revealed that he left his home in anger about a year ago and inadvertently crossed the border into West Bengal.
After some time begging near a bus stop in Kolkata, he travelled to Dehradun by train and pretended to be mute to evade detection by police.
'He was living here in hiding and disguised as a baba,' the LIU officer noted in the complaint.
According to the complaint, on searching Rukan Rakab, police found 17 old wrist watches of different brands on both arms, 42 old rings/rings typically sold in fairs and 13 old metal chains.
They also found a big round locket tied around his waist with the name and image of Shri Parashuram Ji on one side and Maa Renuka Ji's picture on the other side. He also had a small locket in his hand with a picture of Shiva on one side and Mahakaal written on the other.
Since he entered India without any passport or valid visa, the Uttarakhand Police booked him under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 and the Foreigners Act, 1946, and arrested him.
'He is in judicial custody now, and work for his deportation is currently ongoing,' Dehradun SSP Ajay Singh told ThePrint.
Additionally, he said that out of 122 people identified as suspects in his police district, 80 belonged to other states and did not have any accommodation in Uttarakhand.
'During Operation Kaalnemi, in the Sahaspur police station area of the district, a Bangladeshi citizen was arrested who had changed his name, adopted a Hindu name, and was promoting himself as 'Siddh Baba',' Uttarakhand DGP Deepam Seth told ThePrint.
'Confidential information was collected about him, and it was found that he had earlier come from Bangladesh to Kolkata. When the police pursued him, he continued to hide by moving to various places and eventually came to Dehradun, where he changed his name and disguise and settled,' Seth added.
In another case, the Haridwar district police said they identified 13 people accused of duping people by impersonating religious figures, including Mehboob, Mohammed Ahmed, Saleem Mohammed Hassan and Zaid—from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
Two accused, Mohammed Jain and Sabir, belonged to Bihar, while one each belonged to West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
The Udham Singh Nagar district police have also arrested seven people from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh's border district of Pilibhit—Chunnu Miyan, Nazim, Afzal, Parvez, Imtiyaz Ali, Tarikh Ahmed and Mohammed Asif—for allegedly impersonating religious figures to dupe people.
Similarly, Dehradun district police arrested Mohammed Yaqub, Bhikhari Lal, Kuldeep Sharma and Hazari Lal from Uttar Pradesh, as well as Saryug Yadav from Bihar, Baldev from Jharkhand, and Babli and Varshram from the state's Haridwar and Rishikesh districts under this campaign.
On the other hand, the Uttarakhand Police also stumbled upon a man named Jitendra from Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad district who had gone missing in 2005. His family had given up all hopes of his return.
Haridwar district police facilitated a reunion with his family after he was first spotted disguised as a Kanwariya during a random check near a 13th-century dargah under Piran Kaliyar Sharif police station.
He did not have any valid documents but could vaguely recall his father's name and the police station. A thorough follow-up by the police helped trace his family.
Chief Minister Dhami said at the launch of the campaign that strict orders had been given to police to start Operation Kalanemi against impostors 'cheating people in the name of Sanatan Dharma and playing with their emotions'.
'Many such cases have come to light in the state where anti-social elements are duping people, especially women, by disguising themselves as sadhus and saints,' Dhami told reporters.
'This is not only hurting the religious sentiments of the people, but also harming the image of social harmony and the Sanatan tradition. In such a situation, if a person of any religion is found engaging in such acts, strict action will be taken against them,' he added.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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