VARANASI: From most wanted to most trusted, Nakdu Yadav pulled off the ultimate con, living as a lawbreaker while working for the law, blending into the very system that once pursued him.
A gangster with a rap sheet as long as a dusty Azamgarh road, Nakdu pulled a Houdini act by rebranding himself as Nandlal Yadav. For 35 years, he worked as a home guard in UP, hiding in plain sight – right under police’s nose.
Now, at 57 and nearing retirement, Nakdu’s double life has come to a dramatic end.
He was involved in multiple crimes between 1984 and ’89, and charged under the Gangsters Act. He disappeared from the radar for a few months before re-emerging, with a forged identity and fake documents, as a home guard.
Nephew tipped off cops about man living a double life
Nakdu Yadav ’s education — a school dropout after Class 4 — didn’t deter him. With a forged Class 8 certificate, he transformed into Nandlal, son of Lokai Yadav, and secured the job with a clean slate.
It wasn’t until October 2024 that his well-guarded secret began to crumble. The first cracks in his elaborate facade appeared from a ‘betrayal’ within his own family. His nephew, also named Nandlal, tipped off police following an altercation with a neighbour, revealing that his uncle had been living a double life.
This revelation led Azamgarh’s DIG Vaibhav Krishna to order a thorough investigation, and the truth began to unravel.
Nakdu’s arrest in Oct and subsequent complaint from his relatives opened Pandora’s box, leading to his suspension and the initiation of proceedings for his dismissal from home guards.
“The investigation would dig deep into how Nakdu managed to evade capture for so long and whether there was any institutional failure,” Azamgarh SP Hemraj Meena said Thursday.
Nakdu’s crimes were far from minor. In 1984, he shot dead a man over a bitter rivalry. The following years saw him embroiled in robbery and other serious charges.
Even more shocking, officers at Rani ki Sarai police station and intelligence officers vouched for his character, signing off on his forged documents. The officers are now under scrutiny, their alleged complicity or negligence under investigation.