Gang rivalry fuels crime

The story has distinct shades of Omkara ��� in fact some of the characters in it come from the same sugarcane belt of western UP. For Delhi police though ��� for the first time faced with organised gang wars in the city that have led to six killings in the last two and a half months ��� the celluloid parallel may be all but lost in the realisation that is only now dawning upon senior crime branch officials that the spate of apparently disparate killings actually have a common thread binding them.There have been 10 arrests, but cops have still not achieved much beyond finally getting a handle on the contours of the gang war.
The story of the rivalry between the gangs of Anwar Thakur ��� who controls the operations of his 50-member group from within the confines of Tihar ��� and Saleem Pehelwan started in 2006 when Saleem and his brother Naim killed Anwar���s close associate Ibrahim, alias Baddu.
He had been in-charge of Anwar���s gang while he was serving a life term for the daring murder of police informer Khaleel inside Sadar Bazaar police station in 2001. Thakur is a known criminal from Meerut who was a one time associate of Fazl-ur-Rehman - also in jail, who was alleged to be a close associate of Dawood Ibrahim.
For the next two years ��� with Anwar in prison, his brother Ashraf killed in an encounter in Mumbai and youngest brother Raja Thakur lodged in Meerut ��� brothers Saleem and Naim enjoyed absolute control over areas around Seelampur, Bhajanpura and other parts of NE Delhi, holding the keys to the entire gamut of criminal activities in the area from money-laundering to kidnap, murder, extortion, snatching etc.
The next strike happened on April 30 this year when Raja, who had gone to Meerut to reorganise his brother���s gang once more, with criminal lawyer I R Khan, Raja Thakur, Akil Don, Salim, Raees Langda and Tasleem killed Saleem Pehelwan in Shahdara. The immediate provocation was an incident in January this year when I R Khan, a close friend of Anwar, was slapped by Naim during a wedding function.
His eyes set firmly on avenging this ������public insult������, Khan approached Anwar inside jail saying that he had received information that Saleem and Naim were plotting Anwar���s murder and had decided to do it during one of his court visits in UP. Anwar asked Raja to strike before the opposition could.
After Saleem���s murder, the special cell of Delhi Police arrested Raja Thakur, Akil, Tasleem and Salim for the murder of Pehalwan, in May this year.
Naim, meanwhile was desperate to avenge his brother���s killing. He hired two contract killers from western UP to kill I R Khan who narrowly escaped while his brother Hasim and his two associates were injured during the attack in June this year.
The police later identified Naim, Sufi, Abib, Mohammad Hasan, Danish, Shamim Chaudhary and two hired goons Imran and Saadat as the people behind the planning and execution. Arif and Sufi were arrested later by the special cell of Delhi Police while Naim and Danish were arrested by the north east district police. I R Khan too was subsequently arrested.
Naim and Hasan though managed to get bail from the court by claiming that they were not present when the attack on Hasim was reported. They produced papers which showed that they were in police custody under an excise case in Ratanpuri area of Muzzafarnagar, UP on the day that Hasim was attacked.
Meanwhile, Tasleem - one of the killers of Saleem Pehelwan - irked Naim���s associate Zargam after his brother Sadiq married the latter���s niece Rubina. Apart from their links to rival gangs, Tasleem and his brother Sadiq are Sunnis and Zargam-a-Shia.
When Tasleem was arrested for the murder of Saleem, Zargam planned an attack on Sadiq in Ballimaran on July 7. Sadiq survived but his brothers Tariq and Taiyeb were killed. Ten days later, Lahori Gate police arrested Mohammad Saleem (32), Wasim (22) and Sanu (21) for the murder while Zargam is still absconding.
Even as the fights between the gangs were on, cops had been keeping a close watch on the jailed Anwar yet they could not prevent another killing. Anwar ordered the killing of Shamim Chaudhry an associate of Naim gang who had been involved in the attack on Hasim.
On July 9, two hired killers from Meerut later identified as Salim Roti and Ayub shot Shamim in crowded Seelampur market. Shamim���s associates, led by his younger brother Shabbir lynched the killers.
Shabbir did not stop at that, say senior police officers. Not content at having killed the men who murdered his brother, he zeroed in on the man who had given the duo shelter - Irshad, an old associate of Anwar Thakur. Shabbir, along with Muneer, Mahfooj, Inam, Naim Pehalwan and Mohd Hasan hatched a conspiracy to kill Irshad. They hired Imran and Saadat who killed Irshad on August 3 in his Seelampur home.
They fired at least 30 bullets, of which 18 were found inside Irshad���s body, said a police officer. Till date, this was the last murder in the ongoing gang wars and cops are waiting for the next strike - expected to be by the Anwar gang. In the Irshad murder case, special cell had arrested Mohammd Hassan (48) and Aarif (26) on August 27. Both are involved with the Naim Pehalwan gang. Illegal arms and ammunition were also seized from them.
(rahul.tripathi@timesgroup.com)