On Wednesday, far left propagandist Arundhati Roy, suggested people should mislead the government and manipulate the data for national population register (NPR) by giving wrong information about themselves, such as ‘Ranga Billa‘ as name. Many would have dismissed these names as ‘funny’ names because she followed it up with ‘Kung-fu Kutta’. ‘Billa’ is Hindi for a big cat and ‘Kutta’ for dog. Easy to think she was just being funny.
But it is not so. Many ‘liberals’ have been referring to PM Modi and HM Amit Shah as ‘Ranga’ and ‘Billa’ since quite a while now.
This also includes Aam Aadmi Party supporters and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal fanboys, if there could indeed be such a thing.
And Congress supporters, the ones who still exist.
Yep, the ‘secular-liberals’ do not shy away while giving names to the prime minister and home minister.
Which is fine. Really. They’ve been called Hitler and fascists as contrary to what these ‘liberals’ would like the world to believe, India is still a democracy.
But who are these ‘Ranga’ and ‘Billa’? Cute, fluffy farm animals? No. They are convicted murderers and quite likely rapists who were sentenced to death.
Sanjay and Geeta Chopra kidnapping and murder case
On 26th August 1978, 16 year old Geeta Chopra and her 14 year old brother Sanjay, whose father was a captain in Indian Navy, left their homes to reach All India Radio office on Sansad Marg, New Delhi. The siblings were to participate in Yuva Vani, a radio show. They left their homes at around 6:15 PM for the 8 PM show.
They were spotted at Dhaula Kuan roundabout by one Kula Nand. Since it was drizzling, one M S Nanda gave a lift to the children to Gole Dak Khana from Dhaula Kuan. At around 6:30 PM, one Bhagwan Das noticed that sound is coming from the mustard yellow Fiat car next to him. He stopped his scooter and approached the car. He saw that a girl was pulling hair of the driver and another boy was trying to fight off the man sitting in the passenger seat. However, the car sped away. One Babu Lal tried to stop the car but it sped away. Das informed the police of what he saw. Unfortunately, the police control room wrote down the wrong number of the car. Instead of HRK 8930, the operator noted it as MRK 8930.
One Inderjeet Singh spotted the same car at Baba Kharak Singh Marg and saw the children struggle with the driver and the man next to him. He drove next to the car. The boy showed his bleeding shoulder and cried for help. He followed the car, but lost it when the car jumped a signal. He then reported the same to police. This time, police noted down correct number.
At 8 PM when the parents tuned in to listen to their children, they were surprised to see another girl was given the slot. At 8:45, the father reached All India Radio office to pick up his children, only to find out they had never reached. He called up home and his relatives to see if they had gone there.
At 10:15 PM, one of the kidnappers took the car with number plate changed to DHI 280 to tend to his cut injury. They gave false names and told the injury was due to fight with thieves. Police constable on duty took their statement and informed Mandir Marg Police Station. At 10:50, two more policemen were sent to hospital for further information. At 11:10, they left hospital against doctor’s advice. They asked the duo to take them to place of incident.
The policemen did not notice any signs of struggle in the car. They asked the duo to take them back to police station and asked to report to police station in morning. When they failed to turn up, the police investigated and found that they had given wrong names and addresses and the car number was also wrong.
Meanwhile, Geeta and Sanjay’s father informed police at 10:15 PM on the day they went missing and even went to Wellington Hospital, thinking the children might have even gone there. He returned home at 11:30 PM, worried.
On 28th August, 1978, two days after they went missing, the bodies of Geeta and Sanjay were discovered by a cowherd, Dhani Ram. He informed a patrolling constable. Parents were called to the site and they identified their children.
Due to advanced stage of decomposition of body, sexual assault could not be established in autopsy. However, the girl had multiple stab wounds and a broken jaw and the boy too had multiple stab wounds.
The father decided to go to the media. Some newspapers published the photographs of children. M S Nanda, who had given lift to the children came forward and gave a statement. The police now suspected the duo which had gone to Wellington Hospital to be suspects. Their photographs were released. Mumbai Police was informed too. The car was found abandoned with another name plate on 31st August, 1978 at Majlis Park, Delhi.
Arrest
A few days later, on 8th September, 1978, the duo boarded Kalka Mail when it slowed near the Yamuna Bridge near Agra. They had boarded the compartment reserved for military personnel and were asked to show their ID proof. After a scuffle with armymen, Lance Naik A V Shetty identified them as the men wanted. On 9th September, 1978, they were handed over to police. They were kept in separate, non-adjoining cells.
Police found a sword and bloodstained clothes in their possession. Billa directed the police to a rented accommodation in Agra where another sword was found.
Confession
On 22nd September, Ranga made a voluntary confession, but retracted on 20th November. Billa made similar confession on 19th October but retracted on 27th October. However, they were later held to be independent as they were both kept in non-adjoining cells.
As per Ranga’s version, he was initially a truck driver who became a taxi driver and one Sham Singh introduced him to Billa. Ranga and Billa had kidnapped a boy in Mumbai using Ranga’s taxi. They released the kid after keeping him for some time. Sham informed Ranga that Billa is a criminal who has killed Arab men. Soon, Sham was arrested. Fearing Sham would reveal their identities, Ranga and Billa first fled to Surat, then to Ahmedabad before reaching Delhi.
On 26th August, after roaming all day, Ranga and Billa spotted the children and thought they’re from rich family. They offered them lift which children accepted. When the children tried to fight them, they were scared with the kirpan he Billa had.
When they saw a Sikh man (Inderjeet Singh, perhaps) following them, Ranga suggested they let them off, but Billa refused. They parked the car at Buddha Jayanti Park. When the kids said their father was a Naval officer, Ranga again suggested they should be let off. Billa, however, refused again. He said he would use the children in a robbery, after which they would let them go.
The duo then drove the children to an untarred road and took the boy away where Billa forced Ranga to kill him with a longer sword. After one blow, Ranga could not continue so Billa took the sword and stabbed the boy repeatedly till he died.
Billa then proceeded to rape the girl as Ranga cleaned the sword. Billa then ‘asked’ Ranga to rape the girl, which he obliged. At this point, Geeta tried to fight back and hit one of the swords on Billa’s head (which explains the injury). She tried to run away but Ranga caught her.
They dressed her up and told her she is being taken to her brother where Billa killed her.
In Billa’s version, the rape of the girl was Ranga’s idea. As per him, it was also Ranga who killed both the children.
Sentence
Kuljeet Singh alias Ranga Khush and Jasbir Singh alias Billa were convicted and sentenced to death under IPC 302. They were also convicted for crimes under Section 363 (kidnapping), 365 (kidnapping with unlawful confinement), 366 (kidnapping a woman with intention of sexual intercourse) and 367 (kidnapping with intention to cause hurt), read with Section 34.
Ranga and Billa were hanged on 31st January, 1982. Their bodies were not claimed by the relatives.
