Politics, disputes and murders, all in the family: How the dreaded Andekar gang has remained active in Pune for 4 decades

Based on the complaint of Ayush’s mother Kalyani, the police have booked 13 people, including her father Bandu, 68; brother Krushna alias Krushnaraj Suryakant Andekar,40; cousins Shivam Udaykant Andekar, 31; Shivraj Udaykant Andekar, 29; and Abhishek Udaykant Andekar, 21; their mother Lakshmi Udaykant Andekar, 60; sister Vrundavani Nilanjay Wadekar, 40; her children Swaraj, 22; and Tushar Nilanjay Wadekar, 26.

The brutal murders of Vanraj and Ayush have exposed the ugly face of the Andekar gang’s battle for supremacy in the mid-city areas of Pune.

The beginning of the Andekar gang

Police sources said the Andekar family was initially into the business of giving new utensils in exchange for collections of old clothes. In the 1970s, Bandu’s brother Balkrishna alias Balu Andekar, a resident of Nana Peth, attacked a local goon with a sharp knife, breaking his little finger.

The incident brought Balu to the limelight. Soon, he formed his gang, involved in various criminal activities and earned money by collecting ‘hafta’ from illegal businesses and other sources in the mid-city areas of Pune. Balu was even known to have developed contacts with Mumbai underworld gangsters from the Dagdi Chawl.

Clashes were reported between gangs led by Balu Andekar and Appa Taru of Kasba Peth around 1975. During this period, a daring youth, Pramod Malvadkar from the Kasba Peth, joined Balu. The Andekar gang gained supremacy by allegedly eliminating Taru’s close aide Balu Kamble, the police said.

Andekar-Malvadkar gang war

Police sources said that following an internal dispute, Malvadkar attacked a close aide of Balu Andekar. As the dispute worsened, Malvadkar parted ways and formed his own gang, posing a significant challenge to Balu.

On July 17, 1984, Malvadkar and his aides allegedly murdered Balu with swords in the Shivajinagar court premises. The incident sparked a major gang war in the city, in which at least six people, including Malvadkar’s father, brother and a cousin, were murdered.

Bandu was arrested along with other gang members for these murders. A Pune court convicted Bandu and sentenced him to life imprisonment in a murder case. Jailed for several years, Bandu became the leader of the Andekar gang. Meanwhile, the police gunned down Malvadkar at Kalewadi on November 19, 1997.

Andekars enter politics

While the Andekar gang’s battle with rivals for supremacy in Pune continued, the Andekar family entered politics in the 1990s. Police officers said that while Bandu allegedly handled the gang, his brothers Udaykant and Ramakant became corporators in the PMC.

Vatsala Andekar alias Akka from the Andekar family became the mayor of Pune city in 1998. Also, Bandu’s wife Rajashree Andekar won civic elections twice in 2007 and 2012. The Andekar family maintained an association with Congress and the NCP. Vanraj, Bandu’s elder son, won the civic elections in 2017 on an NCP ticket.

Meanwhile, the police named Andekar gang members in various crimes. Bandu and his son Krushna were booked in a case of firing bullets at an illegal money lender, Pappu Padwal, in March 2010, but a court acquitted them.

Currently out on bail, Bandu and his gang members were booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for allegedly attempting to murder a rival gang member, Omkar Kudle, in February 2021. In June this year, police arrested Shivam for allegedly extorting money from a fish vendor in Nana Peth.

Family feud and Vanraj’s murder

As per the FIR in the Vanraj murder case, his sister Sanjivani and brother-in-law Jayant Komkar believed that their shop was demolished by the anti-encroachment department of the Pune Municipal Corporation, as per his instructions, when he was a corporator.

The FIR also said that on September 1, 2024, Sanjivani and Jayant came to the Samarth police station and had a quarrel with one Akash Pardeshi there. While they were allegedly thrashing Pardeshi, Shivam and Vanraj reached the police station and settled the quarrel. Sanjivani allegedly threatened Vanraj that they would not let him live as he interfered in their matter. She also blamed Vanraj for demolishing their shop and threatened to kill him, according to the FIR.

The police said that following “disputes, family feud and a previous quarrel”,  Sanjivani and Jayant allegedly conspired to kill Vanraj with the help of Somnath Gaikwad of Ambegaon Pathar. A criminal on police records, Gaikwad was once a henchman of the Andekar gang who later became a rival. Sanjivani, Jayant and his brother Ganesh Komkar, father of deceased Ayush, and Gaikwad were among those arrested for Vanraj’s murder.

The police said that to avenge Vanraj’s murder, the Andekar gang wanted to kill Somnath’s son on September 1. The plan failed as the police, on August 31, arrested an Andekar gang member, Datta Balu Kale, and booked seven others, including Krushna, for allegedly conducting a recce of the houses of Gaikwad and his aides in the Ambegaon Pathar area. Five days later, they allegedly executed the revenge murder, though the target changed.

From the homepage

J&K’s only AAP MLA is first legislator to be detained under Public Safety Act for a year

‘Not citizenship proof’: SC directs poll panel to accept Aadhaar as 12th document in Bihar SIR

Vice-President election: In boost to NDA’s Radhakrishnan, BJD to abstain from voting