A day after one of India's well known 'encounter specialists' Daya Nayak was suspended, it has emerged that the police officer had declined to join his new posting at Nagpur over concerns for "family's safety".
"He was transferred to Nagpur last year. He had conveyed to Maharashtra government and also the state director general of police that he faced threat to life. He had also expressed apprehension that he could be singled out and killed," a senior police officer told PTI in Mumbai on Friday.
"However, neither the state government nor the police top brass took due cognisance of his submission and also of the fact that Daya and his family had security cover for nine years, from 1997 to 2006."
"Nayak, who killed over 80 people in encounters, was of the view that he would be exposing himself and his family to his 'enemies', as the government had withdrawn the security cover."
"Daya had also apprehended that there was an attempt to 'corner him and finish him off' for the last few years. He was aware of central intelligence reports about threat to his life and that of his family," the police officer said.
"Despite the transfer order last year, Nayak did not join the new posting as he felt protecting his family was his priority. He feels that while issuing the suspension order on Thursday, no due procedure was followed. No show cause notice was issued to him to gauge the reason behind his not joining duty at Nagpur," he said.
"He had recovered 67 AK-47 assault rifles, besides killing so many dreaded gangsters in encounters. He was also given an AK-47 and a carbine for personal protection," the officer said.
