He was holed up in small room & huts for months

When the cops had laid siege to Anandpal Singh’s hideout in Churu village Malasar and called him out, he never once replied back. The only talking was done by his guns showering bullets on the cops. Anandpal was an extremely intelligent gangster and that made him all the more dangerous.

The escape artist

Anandpal was an escape artist. Two years back he wriggled out of secure perimeter of 18 cops thrown around him while in transit from court to jail. In the months that would follow, the police hunting for him came up close and personal to his style of ambush and escape several times, but the gangster was as slippery as an eel. Moments after he escaped from police custody, the man went straight to one of his confidante’s farm house where he hid for one night. While the cops were searching him, the man was hiding in Nagaur. The next day Singh left his safe house and without informing anyone where he was headed for another hideout.

Man on the move

In the beginning, the gangster stayed at various houses of his aides and accomplices. But when the police started arresting his gang members, he moved to locations that were even outside the state. He would, however, make sure that he didn’t stay at one place for too long. Singh’s brothers, Vicky and Gattu, also  turned nomads, never living off one place for more than a couple of days.

Six-by-six feet hideout

As the cops, shifted gears, Anandpal was quick to change his game plan. The gangster who was quick on his toes decided it was time to lay low. “He stayed for nearly a month in a thatched hut in an agricultural field in Bikaner that was equipped with all the amenities: Television, refrigerator, fan among others,” an official tracking him told DNA. The man later conditioned himself in handling a life of a fugitive without any luxuries. “He spent months in a row in a six-feet by six-feet small room,” the cop added. Anandpal moved out only when believed his new location will not be revealed to cops.

Handling finance

At one point of time, Anandpal became so adept at hoodwinking the cops that he started carrying out the routine works of his gang as well. He made sure that he met a few trusted gang members only. They would be introduced through his brothers. “He started giving them directions from his hideout,” a cop on his tail said.  

Hitching a ride

In the last few months, Anandpal kept switching from one place to another on vehicles and when he could not find a vehicle, he also travelled on foot. His brothers would transfer him from one place to another after conducting recce of the area. They would leave a car with him while they would roam on bikes. He travelled to Gwalior where he hid for a few days in a house and left only hours before the cops reached. The cops kept receiving information about Singh’s location in surrounding states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh but the man remained elusive.

Winter hibernation

In winter last year, after much of his gang was busted and the weakening finances started pinching him, he went completely off grid. That’s when the cops went after his brothers instead of him and tracked them to Haryana where the duo was arrested. They revealed his hideout in Churu’s Malsar village where he was shot dead in an encounter.

THE ESCAPE

• When cops started arresting his gang members, he moved to locations outside the state
   
• He stayed for nearly a month in a thatched hut in an agricultural field in Bikaner
   
• In winter last year,  after much of his gang busted, he went completely off grid