Bishnoi versus Bambiha: Moosewala’s murder brings gang wars back in focus

“Hashim too had landed in jail during Covid and he became close friends with infamous jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi through gangster Jitender Gogi. Both Hashim and Shahrukh started working for Bishnoi, and Shahrukh was asked to eliminate Moosewala. He spent two-three months doing a recce, but failed to execute the plan due to Moosewala having heavy security cover. After Shahrukh’s arrest, this information was shared by the Delhi Police Special Cell with the Punjab Police,” said a senior police officer.

Arrest no deterrent

A senior police officer said that in the last five years, many Delhi-based gangsters have been put behind bars: “In their absence, gangsters from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan have tried to operate in the capital, often forming alliances with Delhi gangsters who are in jail.”

Many, senior officers say, work out of international locations such as Dubai, Thailand and Canada, remote controlling their gangs from afar. “Bishnoi’s associate Virender Pratap alias Kala Rana was operating from Thailand; Satenderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar from Canada; and Gaurav Patiala alias Lucky from Armenia,” an officer said. In a social media post, Brar had claimed responsibility for Moosewala’s death.

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While Bishnoi’s gang is arguably the most notorious, it has faced stiff competition from a rival gang led by Davinder Bambiha, who used to run an extortion racket in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula before being killed in 2016 in an encounter with the Punjab Police. Since then, his aides, Dilpreet and Sukhpreet alias Budha, have been running the gang from inside jail.

With both gangs trying to expand their sphere of influence, alliances started being formed, police said.

Bishnoi sided with gangsters Kala Jathedi (Haryana), Subbe Gujjar (Gurgaon), Anand Pal Singh (Rajasthan), Jitender Gogi (Outer Delhi), and Hashim Baba (Northeast Delhi). Sampat Nehra, who hails from Rajasthan and was associated with student politics there, also joined Bishnoi’s crime syndicate, police said, adding that he was instrumental in forming the alliance between Bishnoi and Kala Jathedi in jail.

“On the other hand, Bambiha had made alliances with Kaushal Chaudhary (Gurgaon), Neeraj Bawana (Delhi) and Sunil alias Tillu Tajpuriya (Outer Delhi),” the officer said.

Both gangs, officers said, have orchestrated high-profile crimes. For instance, the recent Rohini courtroom shootout in which gangster Jitender Gogi was killed was planned by the Bambiha gang and their allies.