From electrician to land agent, he did it all

Ahmedabad: He lived by the gun and died by it, too. Pradeep Karneshwar alias Pradeep Don from Khadia ruled for almost two decades.
Finally, one of his own sharpshooters did a la Shikhandi from Mahabharata and shot him from point blank range on Sunday. Police believe Jignesh Soni, Pradeep's gang member who gunned him down, aspired to soar high.
According to senior police officials, Pradeep was not always a goon."He was owning an electronics equipment store in Khadia and was very good at it. Pradeep was popular as he was among few shopkeepers who could also repair the equipment. He used to observe mechanism once and then could remember it well. Pradeep had also tried his hands at welding work. However, everything changed once he took part in anti-reservation bill in 1985," said a senior police official.
He said Pradeep was one of the active participants and he even threw a hand flour millstone on a police van, resulting into death of a police constable. After that incident, he earned the title of Don'. He then started gathering local youths and committed petty crime.
"He then went on to extort money from traders, abduct people for ransom and even hold them captive at his Khadia residence. In Narendra Tiwari abduction case, Pradeep abducted the trader from Nadiad and held him captive for almost a fortnight before the money was sent. A Sikh trader from Relief Road was held and beaten up by his gang members in the 1990s when he refused to pay hafta while buying a property," said the official.
However, many did not file a complaint against him as he was a dreaded criminal. He allegedly had local political backing that shielded him from police action. In the later stage of his life, Pradeep, a bachelor, moved on to invest his fortune on lands and had started purchasing properties in Maninagar.
"He was into buying and selling properties and was making a good amount. Due to his newly-found business for the last three years, his attitude reportedly changed and this did not go down well with some of his gang members. Earlier, there were some attempts on Pradeep's life but he survived. However, Sunday proved to be fatal when he went on to hug his long-time associate Jignesh at his own residence," said the official.