The dark underbelly of the National Capital

Recently the national Capital witnessed one of its deadliest encounter carried out in the last 12 years. The encounter between the Special Cell of Delhi Police and criminals of the infamous Kranti gang led to the killing of four criminals and injured eight policemen. Soon after this, another encounter was carried out in Greater Noida in a Joint Operation by the Cell and the Uttar Pradesh police, and a wanted criminal was shot during the confrontation.

With the recent spate of criminals and police engaging in cross-fire the question is — is it the end of gangs and gangsters, or is it that they were always running their syndicates in the Delhi and NCR regions?

While Special Cell officers claim that organised crime in Delhi has depleted, while it is also a fact that there are gang leaders lodged in jail who continue to spread fear. A senior official, when asked what is the new thing that changed or came up in the recent times, he said, "The return of the Star .30 bore pistol is an alarming factor. It was used earlier around 15-20 years ago. Even in the encounter where members of Kranti gang were shot dead, the police recovered these pistols. We are tracing how and where they were procured from." A few days after this, the police recovered the same pistols in another encounter at Greater Noida.

Another thing that goes hand in hand is the involvement of juveniles. With age and energy on their side, the juveniles join the gangs to earn quick bucks and be their own hero. Earlier, juveniles were used for petty crimes such as pick pocketing and snatching, but now they are being trained for firing and killing people. In the last week of May, Dinesh Karala — a member of Gogi gang — was fired at while he was in a vehicle of the Haryana Police who had apprehended him to produce him at the Tis Hazari court in a robbery case. A joint team of Spcial Cell and the police apprehended the accused while he was trying to flee. The accused juvenile told the police that he was a part of Tillu gang and had carried out the attack on their directions. Investigating official stated that juveniles are roped in as they are impulsive, energetic and aware of the law so it is easy and cheap for them to hire a juvenile and train him, rather than training a sharpshooter who is older. In addition, even if the juvenile is caught he would be back after a period of six months or so.       

The major source of income earlier was extorting money from builders whether small or big. But now there are two things from where the gang members make their money. First being the betting racket and the other being extracting money from the toll tax men. "The gangsters find a bookie and then engage with them in betting. The bookies, who are intimidated by them, take a backseat in case they need to extract some money from the gangsters. In stead, they tip the gangster about someone who bets a large sum of money and asks him to play there. While this might not be the best way for a bookie to save himself, it helps the gangsters find their next best victim," the officer said.

Explaining the exchange of money between toll tax men and gangsters, the officer said that there are times when it acts as a barter system in the form of alcohol and women. In a scenario, even if they want they can't raise their voice as the gangsters are well aware of the money they earning illegally.

Most of the gangs are an outcome of minor fights; for example the gang war in Northeast Delhi between Abdul Nasir and Irfan alias Chennu Pehalwan — both are in judicial custody currently — started because Atif, who is friend of Nasir, had eloped with the daughter of Hazi Mateen, a member of another gang. According to theories, Mateen later killed Atif and in order to avenge Atif's death, Nasir killed Mateen and his associate Akil alias Don. After Akil's demise Irfan took over the gang, and the war between them began. Another theory stated that a major fight occurred in the year 2012 between Nasir and Akil over control of the betting network in the area.

Later in December 2015, Nasir gang tried to kill Irfan during a shoot-out in East Delhi's Karkardooma Court Complex. In April 2017, two members of Chennu Pehalwan gang — identified as Imran and Qamer — were killed by sharpshooters of the Nasir gang. Later, in cross-fire, Irfan eliminated several members of Nasir gang.

Topping the chart of the most wanted gangsters in Delhi is Jitender alias Gogi, who carries a reward of Rs 4 lakh from the police and is currently absconding. His rival gangster Sunil alias Tillu gang is currently lodged in jail. Their rivalry goes back to college days when both of them supported opposing candidates during Shardanand College elections.

After the elections were over Gogi gunned down a member of Tillu gang Deepak after finding out that his cousin was dating him. Agitated over this, Sunil killed Arun alias Commando, an associate of Gogi. In 2017, Gogi gunned down another man as he thought he was associated with Tillu gang.

Issues during and after an encounter

Pramod Kushwah, DCP, Special Cell stated that all encounters are meticulously planned, but they do worry if any local or passerby or residential area is close by. "Each operation is a hard work of a lot of months and is planned meticulously. However, when we go out for an operation, one needs to be very careful about people residing nearby or moving through that passage. No harm should be done to anyone else. Firing on criminals take place only when they fire at police parties and refuse to surrender despite warnings," said Kushwah.

Officials also highlighted that the law is strongly in favour of the accused person. Despite police officials also getting injured in the cross-fire, eyebrows are always raised about their intention.

"People question such operations a lot. If you look at it, then after Neetu Dabodia's encounter in South Delhi in 2012 the next encounter only took place in 2017 where Gogi was fired at and managed to escape in Udhampur.

Then in December 2017 Shammi associate of Bharti and Sanjit was shot at," he said.

Is encounter the real solution?

Despite the number of criminals being arrested and some being killed in a cross-fire, the solution to the problem is not encounter, say cops. For the elimination of gang-wars and gangsters, they need to be booked under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA), but despite their leaders being arrested and running the racket from the jails, it is difficult to bring them all in. "When the entire family of the criminal will also face similar charges, then the people would fear joining these gangs," a police officer said.

Citing an example of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, an official said that over a decade ago cases of kidnapping for ransom in the district were high. Senior police officials would not only arrest the accused, but also the people who offered help to the accused in terms of food or shelter.

"In such a situation the man who is providing them with food or necessary arrangements is aware that despite four persons staying in the house the food being sent was for six persons. Hence, all of them were booked," a police officer said.

Four things to know

Income: The major sources of income for the gangs are betting rackets and extorting toll tax men. While bookies send gangsters to newer players to save themselves, toll tax men mostly stay silent for fear of being exposed themselves.

Roping in younger ones: The gangs are recruiting more and more juveniles instead of adults as it does not only help in getting the minors out of jail in little to no time, but also helps them easily channel the anger of the young ones.

Shift to NCR from UP: Since the Uttar Pradesh police started this encounter spree, criminals decided to escape and find a safe haven in Delhi and Haryana. Most of the active gangs are based in Outer Delhi and Haryana belt region.

Cops’ woes: While engaging in these encounters, there are a number of things that the cops have to consider. The first being safety of civilians living in the area, whereas it is the same people who often question the intent of the cops behind the encounter.