Life of crime that began at 13, political foray, ‘Rs 750-crore loot’: Who was Vinay Tyagi, gangster killed in Uttarakhand police custody?

The 53-year-old is a known associate of gangster Sunil Rathi, who is a rival of Haridwar-based Chinu Pandit. Pandit, like Tyagi, is lodged in the Roorkee sub jail. Tyagi was moved to the jail in December from Dehradun, where he was earlier lodged. Police said they are probing whether other gangs are involved. They said both the accused, identified as Sunny Yadav and Ajay, were from Kashipur in Udham Singh Nagar. The accused had earlier been jailed in connection with a dacoity in Kashipur with Tyagi. After a monetary dispute over the loot, their relationship soured, and Yadav pursued Tyagi, police said, citing the preliminary probe.

An SIT has been formed to probe the murder. Superintendent of Police, Rural, Shekhar Chand Suyal, said the team is looking into the circumstances surrounding the murder. “We are looking into all angles, the background of the accused and their involvement with other gangs. We have not ruled out gang rivalry as a motive, but we have not found any political links prima facie,” he said.

Early start to a life of crime

Tyagi was born in Muzaffarnagar and moved to Meerut. The first case against Vinay Tyagi was registered in 1985 at the Civil Lines police station in Meerut under the IPC section pertaining to kidnapping, when he was just 13 years old.

Seven years later, he was booked in Roorkee, and in 1993, for attempted murder. The first FIR invoking the Goonda Act against him was registered in 1996 in Meerut, and then a year later, in Muzaffarnagar. As he expanded his footprint, he went on to get arrested in at least 10 cases of murder, spread across the region.

Following his entry into Dehradun, he was booked under the Gangster Act in 2016 at Prem Nagar police station. In the FIR, police said, “(Tyagi and others) have formed an organised criminal gang and are involved in committing heinous offences such as kidnapping, murder, robbery and dacoity in Uttarakhand for illegally earning financial gains. Due to the acts of the accused persons, an atmosphere of fear prevails in society, and no individual is willing to come forward to testify against them. Because of their terror and intimidation, people do not dare to lodge complaints against them. The accused persons have been jailed several times earlier for offences related to kidnapping, murder, robbery and dacoity.” The FIR goes on to name Tyagi as the gang leader.

Political foray

Amid the cases and gang rivalry, Tyagi also contested Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh’s Deoband in 2007 under the banner of the Uttar Pradesh United Democratic Front, a regional party active at the time.

A recent case from Dehradun has resurfaced after Tyagi’s family claimed that he was being framed and targeted to save “powerful individuals”. In September, Tyagi’s acquaintance, Dr Pramod Tyagi, had lodged a complaint in Dehradun alleging that cash and gold-silver articles were stolen from his car parked outside his house. Dehradun police had claimed Vinay Tyagi’s involvement. Police said the accused, along with another associate, broke the car window and stole the valuables worth Rs 4 lakh.

‘Rs 750 crore loot’

Following the attack on Vinay Tyagi, his sister, Seema, alleged that the loot over which he purportedly split with his alleged assailants was of Rs 750 crore, which included documents of a benami property. Speaking to reporters, she claimed that this belonged to a road construction contractor based in Meerut, whom the ED had raided.

“He (the contractor) had hidden it at a doctor’s place in Dehradun to escape the ED. Vinay Tyagi came to know about this, and as he held a grudge against the contractor, Vinay stole the entire loot and was going to hand it over to the ED. On the way, the Dehradun police caught Vinay along with his wife. The entire loot was recovered. Now, there was a plan to kill Vinay while taking him to court, so that he wouldn’t reveal this to the ED or any other agency. The Uttarakhand Police are involved in this,” she alleged.

Tyagi’s daughter, Tanvi, accused police of delaying Tyagi’s treatment after he was shot.