Rajasthan: 13 Notorious criminal paraded semi-naked; Videos go viral

Jaipur, Sep 23: Thirteen criminals arrested by Special Operations Group of Rajasthan police for helping notorious criminal Vikram Singh alias Papla, escape from the lock-up were paraded semi-naked in public in Behror town of Alwar district on Sunday.

The video of the incident has gone viral on various social media platforms. These criminals were seen wearing underwear, seemingly newly purchased.

People were in shock when they saw the men surrounded by over 150 armed policemen and are being paraded on the city roads. The criminals were seen chained and handcuffed.

Heavily escorted by personnel of Alwar police, SOG team, Rajasthan Armed Constabulary (RAC), they were paraded in a semi-naked state for around 2 kilometre.

The SOG officials however said that the parade was just to reconstruct the crime scene.

Vikram Gujjar (28), better known as Papla, was detained for questioning at Behror police station after cops intercepted his SUV during patrolling early morning. An amount of Rs 31.90 lakh was seized and he was taken into custody for further interrogation, police said.

Papla, who is from Mahendragarh in neighbouring Haryana, is wanted in five murder cases and there was a bounty of Rs 5 lakh on him, Singh said.

Nearly two years ago, his gang members managed to free him after opening fire, in a similar manner, at a court premises. A hunt was on for him since then, the officer said.

Barricades have been put up at all major locations and a search is on to nab him at the earliest, Behror Station House Officer Sugan Singh said.

It was for the first time in the state that such a public parade of criminals has been conducted. It is believed that the escape dealt a heavy blow to the police's image in the public and emboldened the criminals in the state. The parade was to instil fear among the criminals.