Munna Bajrangi once defeated death

Prem Prakash Singh aka `Munna Bajrangi’, who once defeated death when the Delhi police and Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh shifted him to hospital suspecting that he was killed in an encounter along with his aide on September 11, 1998, but he later survived the attack, finally fell prey to bullets by another listed gangster of Western Uttar Pradesh Sunil Rathi and that too in judicial custody. 

However, with no direct rivalry with Rathi, the questions which is now to be answered by the probing team that whether the killing was purely due to Bajrangi spreading it’s wing in Western UP and Uttrakhand, or someone enjoying power had orchestrated him killing inside the jail with the help of another gang lord just to avenge some old killings by Bajrangi. 

Bajrangi, who left his studies just in class 5th had rein terror in the crime world for almost three decades had finally prey to bullets inside Baghpat District Jail after being allegedly shot dead by Sunil Rathi. The modus operandi used to eliminate the Eastern UP gang lord buttressed the allegations made by the slain mafia’s wife Seema Singh, just 10-days before his killings. Seema apprehended that her husband will be killed by the UP police after being taken to Baghpat in the name of producing him in court. She demanded that Bajrangi should not be shifted to Baghpat and instead the hearing of the case should be made with the help of video conferencing.

Sources said that killing of Bajrangi was orchestrated at behest of a senior saffron leader, particularly to avenge the killing of series of sensational killing of Bharatiya Janta Party leaders, by Munna Bajrangi and his mentor, mafias don turned MLA, Mokhtar Ansari. Bajrangi shot fame in the crime world when in the mid 90’s, he gunned down BJP leader Ram Chander Singh and his official bodyguard in Jaunpur. After formation of STF UP by then chief minister Kalyan Singh, the elite task force, besides launching a hunt for then dreaded gangster Shree Prakash Shukla, had also put Bajrangi on their `wanted list’. 

Subsequently on September 11, 1998 the STF and cops of crime cell of the Delhi police, spotted Bajrangi in a maruti esteem car (DL-3CL-4315) at GT Karnal Road opposite Nangli Poona in North-West Delhi. Later in exchange of fire with the criminals, the joint team suspected that Bajrangi and one of his close aide, Yatinder Singh, hailing from Gautambudhnagar, were dead. They were taken to hospital but the doctors found Bajrangi, hit at least nine bullets on his head and upper portion of the body, alive and later he survived.

Sources said that after some times Bajrangi, who was granted bail by the court, jumped his bail and was declared Proclaimed offender on May 20, 2002. 

Later in 2003, he once again targeted local BJP leader Anil Rai, BJP MLA from Ghazipur and four others including his official bodyguard in Varanasi. He killed Anil Rai and his brother. However the big blow was received by BJP when on November 29, 2005, Bajrangi at behest of his mentor Mukhtar Ansari, opened fire burst with AK-47 killing Krishnanand Rai, an MLA from Mohammadabad constituency in Ghazipur district along half a dozen of supporters including security personnel. They were ambushed near the Ballia –Ghazipur border by several motorcycle-borne miscreants armed with sophisticated weapons. In this case lodged with Bhanvarkol police station, besides Bajrangi, names of Mokhtar his brother Afzal were also included.

Sources said that to evade arrest Bajrangi left Uttar Pradesh and tried to spread its network in Delhi as well and extending threat to businessmen. He also reportedly took shelter in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhatisgarh, Daman, Rajasthan, Orissa, West Bengal and Bihar besides Nepal and other Gulf countries. Four years after Rai’s killing and announcement of Rs 7 lakh reward on Bajrangi’s arrest, the crime branch of Delhi police once again traced his movement in Malad area of Mumbai and finally on September 16, 2009, the team located his apartment and picked up one  his associate namely Mahender aka Shetty aka Bala aka Rajesh. He was interrogated wherein he revealed that Bajrangi will meet him later in the morning at Mumbai -Surat Highway near Chinchoti and subsequently a trap was laid on Bajrangi and he was arrested.  Many believe that fearing encounter, Bajrangi himself masterminded his arrest. Since then, he has been kept in different jail. Bajrangi had claimed that he had killed at least 40 people in a span of 20 years. 

Sources said that one of the saffron leader from Eastern UP, who sees Bajrangi and Mokhtar’s gang as a potential threat to the Party in the region, particularly after Bajrangi orchestrated killing of series of BJP leader, is looking for an opportunity to eliminate Bajrangi. Besides Bajrangi, his mentor Mokhtar’s family about a year back also apprehended that  the don (Mokhtar) will be eliminated in Banda jail and demanded to shift him to Lucknow jail. However, Mokhtar found his safe till now but one of his right hang, Bajrangi fell prey to bullets. 

It may be mentioned that Bajrangi wanted to become a gangster like those shown in Bollywood films. The first criminal case was filed against him when he was 17. He was accused of violence and possession of illegal arms. Later, Bajrangi started working for Gajraj Singh, a noted criminal from Jaunpur. As per police records, he committed the first murder in 1984. Days after this, Bajrangi murdered BJP leader Ramchandra Singh, who was local block pramukh. In 1990s, Bajrangi became a part of Mokhtar Ansari gang, which functioned from Mau. After Mukhtar Ansari became an MLA on Samajwadi Party ticket from Mau in 1996, Bajrangi began to directly influence government tenders and till now, the two led one of the most power gang in Eastern UP. In 2013, both Mokhtar and Bajrangi also took on another Eastern UP don Brajesh Singh in stake on coal worth crores of rupees, liquor and scrap syndicate.