Western UP rival gangs hold jail meet, police suspect an alliance

The police are suspecting an alliance between gangsters from western UP, who work for Anil Dujana and Balaram Thakur, and the accomplices of Munna Bajrangi, a gangster from eastern UP who is currently in Tihar jail.

The special task force (west) found records of meetings between these two groups. The police said the gangsters are looking for a safer area to operate, following a recent crackdown by the STF.

“We have arrested more than half the members of the Anil Dujana and Balram Thakur gangs. During a recent surveillance, we found that some accomplices of Munna Bajrangi had met gangsters who used to work for Dujana and Thakur,” said Ajay Sahdev, additional superintendent of police, STF west.

The police said the gangsters went to the jail as visitors and suspect that the meeting was an attempt to deliver messages to their accomplices who are behind bars.

Dujana and Bhati are behind bars while Balaram Thakur, a gangster who operates from a small town in western UP, is still at large, the police said.

“In recent days, a series of crackdowns were carried out on members of Dujana, Thakur and Bhati gangs. It seems like the gang members are in search of a safer area to operate. We have alerted our eastern counterparts about the suspicious meetings between these gangs,” a senior STF official said.

Munna Bajrangi, also known as Prem Prakash Singh, is lodged in Tihar jail since 2009 after he was arrested from Mumbai.

Apart from running an organised extortion racket, Bajrangi in 2005 was also allegedly involved in murder of Krishnanand Rai, the BJP MLA from Mohammadabad, the police said.

“There was a time when Bajrangi’s men terrorised businessmen in Varanasi, Mau, Ghazipur and other localities of eastern UP. His gang was broken after his arrest in 2009. However, some of his gang members are still absconding and are running his extortion business at a smaller level,” the STF official said.

“We have not found both the gangs to be involved in a single case so far. We are tracking them down. They cannot do much in UP anymore,” the official said.