New Delhi:
Dreaded gangster Munna Bajrangi, who became the synonym of terror in Uttar Pradesh, was shot dead inside Baghpat district jail hours before his court appearance on Monday. He was shot in the head 10 times by an inmate, suspected to be from the Sunil Rathi gang.
Munna, whose real name was Prem Prakash Singh, was an accused in as many as 40 criminal cases, including those of murder and extortion. He was shifted to the Baghpat jail from Jhansi on Sunday night.
A class five dropout, Munna went on to lead the world of crime in Uttar Pradesh
In eastern Uttar Pradesh, the very name of Munna Bajrangi was enough to send shivers down the spine of police and even dreaded criminals.
The mafia don came to the fore in the world of crime after the brutal murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in November 2005. Munna and his men fired around 400 bullets at Rai from six AK-47s rifles.
Munna was on the most wanted list of UP police
Born in Pure Dayal village of Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district in 1967, a class five dropout, Munna was on the most wanted list of UP police and once carried a bounty of Rs 7 lakh on his head.
Also Read | Uttar Pradesh: Dreaded gangster Munna Bajrangi shot inside Baghpat jail
The dreaded gangster entered the world of crime at an early age. He had developed a kinship for arms when he was a teenager. Even the first case filed against him was for possessing illegal arms when he was just 17-year-old.
When Munna killed a businessman
The teenager later joined Gajraj Singh’s gang in Jaunpur and made his own mark in the world of the mafia in Uttar Pradesh. The first case of major crime was registered against him in 1984 when he killed a businessman.
By 1990, his name became well known in the corridors of crime. In the same year, he joined mafia don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s gang and grew up under his patronage.
Munna's stint in politics
The gangster also had a small stint in politics and had unsuccessfully contested the 2012 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls from Mariyahu in Jaunpur as an Apna Dal candidate.
He was arrested in the murder case of BJP MLA Rai in 2009 from Mumbai’s Malad area. Since then, he was lodged in the jail. On June 29, his wife Seema Singh had alleged at a press conference in Lucknow that the Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh Police was hatching a conspiracy to kill him in a fake encounter.
Just 10 days before Munna Bajrangi's death
“My husband’s life is in danger and I want to tell Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath that a conspiracy is being hatched to kill him in a fake encounter,” his wife had said. And nearly 10 days after this, Munna met a gory death inside the Baghpat district jail.
(With inputs from agencies)
