Gurugram: Since their rise in 1995, over 15 gangsters killed in gang wars

Gurugram: Eleven was the total number of bullets that were pumped into the body of Ashok Rathi by his murderers to make sure that he not only die a painful death but there should also not be any chances of survival. For a city that is no stranger to gangster's blood being spilled on streets, this was the second incident of a gangster being murdered. In January this year, another gangster Jayadev was shot dead in Shivaji which is just a few meters away from the New Gurugram commissioner's office.

In the last 24 years according to police officials, over 15 top gangsters have lost their lives in bloody gang wars of Gurugram. In an interesting trend over the years, more than the law enforcement officials it is the internal feud and power struggle within the ranks of gangs in Gurugram.

It was in 1995 when the gangs of then Gurgaon actually became powerful and influential with the growing wealth of the city. The two major gang leaders were Bunty Fauji who belonged to Teekli village in Sohna and Rajje who belonged from Jharsa. The two were mostly involved in land grab and extortion cases.

In 1996, the Bunty fauji killed his rival Rajje. The crime empire of Rajje was then overseen by his wife Sangeeta who according to law enforcement officials is believed to be the first woman gangster of Gurugram. She too was murdered in the gang war. With the weakening of the Bunty Fauji gang, the new set of gangsters came in like the Sunil Takla gang, Dharamveer Ulhawas gang, Sudesh alias Chailu gang, Neetu Gahlot, and Kuldeep gangs.

Among these, the power gang leaders that included Neetu Gahlot were shot dead in 2008 apparently by the contract killers of Raj Bala Malik who was the mother of another slain leader Sunil Malik. Two years prior to Gahlot's killing, Ulhawwas was also brutally murdered.

In July 2015, Rakesh Hayatpur narrowly escaped death when two unidentified assailants began firing at him at a busy MG Road. In 2016, Manish Gujjar, the brother of Binder Gujjar, was shot dead allegedly by men from the rival gang who at the beginning of 2017 was killed in an encounter with Gurugram police in Mumbai.

Despite the police claims that over the years the criminal activities of the gangs in Gurugram have reduced, various new gangs are coming up and carrying out criminal activities.