In real life: Coal mafia gang wars continue in Wasseypur

Going by the blood bath between Dhanbad’s coal mafias, Anurag Kashyap may soon have enough meat to ,- III.

Gangs of Wasseypur I and II, the two movies that catapulted this small town to stardom, are being followed up by real-life sequels with continuing gang wars.

Earlier this week on July 24, one Irshad Alam, alias Tunna Khan, was killed after he did not pay heed to rival gangster Fahim Khan’s warnings. Alam was once Khan’s right-hand and his brother-in-law. This is the second murder in Wasseypur within three months. In the bloody history that began way back in 1983 with the murder of Shafi Khan, Fahim’s father, a total of 17 murders have taken place with Fahim’s family being at the centre stage. Fahim, who avenged his father’s death a year later killing two, is currently serving life imprisonment.

So, are the police helpless in nailing the Wasseypur war lords? “Absolutely not,” retorted inspector general of police, Laxman Prasad Singh. “The killings in Wasseypur are primarily resultants of a feud between two families over common business interests. Community policing is the only way to check the wanton killings,” he said.

Police superintendent Hemant Toppo said that police have worked hard in solving most murders in the small town. “Fahim is in jail because of our logical and meticulous investigation,” he said.

Kashyap’s movies centered around two warring groups of Wasseypur, one led by Fahim and the other by Shabir Khan, presently out on bail.

The two gang leaders were neighbours and once close friends. Their relationship turned sour over businesses in coal theft and transportation, railway contracts, land disputes and iron pilfering.

“Tunna’s killings once again exposed that Wasseypur gangsters care the least for law,” said a Wasseypur elder requesting not to be quoted.