Why gangsters are thriving in Rajasthan
On December 3, in one of the worst gang war violence witnessed in Rajasthan in recent years, five gunmen killed Raju Theth, a notorious gangster at the doorstep of his home in Sikar city. Doctors extracted 25 bullets from 52-year-old Theth’s body. Within 24 hours, the police apprehended all suspects; two of them were injured in the encounter with the police and one turned out to be a juvenile.
Rohit Godara, a criminal suspected to be operating from overseas, claimed responsibility for Theth’s murder on behalf of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Godara termed it ‘revenge’ for the killings of gangster Anandpal Singh in an encounter in Churu district in 2017 and Balbir Banura in Bikaner jail in 2014.
Theth’s murder is being linked to the caste and political patronage enjoyed by gangs in Rajasthan. Dozens of such groups have come up in the state over the past two decades. However, it is in the past five years that gang operations have touched a new level, with even groups based in Punjab and Haryana operating in Rajasthan with ease. Some argue that the spurt has also been caused by the elimination of Anandpal. The gangster, who belonged to the Ravana Rajput caste, allegedly had deep links with politicians and elements within the police, and his domination apparently kept other gangs at bay.
Anandpal, police say, escaped from their custody in 2015 after a failed attempt to eliminate him in Bikaner jail in 2014. In that attempt, a revolver had been smuggled inside the jail, allegedly on the instructions of a politician. Banura, a former aide of Theth who had joined hands with Anandpal, died in the attack on Anandpal, taking the bullets on him. During the attack, Anandpal and another aide of his had thrashed to death the two assailants allegedly belonging to the Theth gang. Anandpal escaped from police custody on way to a court in Nagaur in 2015. He was eventually killed in a police encounter in 2017.
“Nobody will dare become a gangster in Rajasthan again,” had claimed the police officer who masterminded the encounter after chasing Anandpal for a year. How wrong he was.
Theories abound and one of them claims that Anandpal was eliminated to please the rival Jats, who were angry over Dara Singh, a gangster from the Jat community, being killed in a police encounter in 2006 for allegedly threatening a Rajput minister. The acquittal of Theth (a Jat) or his bail in most cases allegedly happened due to political and police patronage.
Most gangsters in the past were into liquor smuggling, but gradually expanded their operations to extortion. Theth had bought a palatial house from a Rajput leader of the BJP in Jaipur. Even some Jat leaders who had taken up Dara Singh’s case later joined hands with the same Rajput leaders they were blaming his encounter on. While police had seized many benami properties allegedly belonging to Anandpal, their investigation did not go that deep in the case of Theth. This had drawn the ire of members of Anandpal’s gang.
Hundreds of Jats took to the streets in the aftermath of Theth’s murder, but he could never attain the clout that Anandpal enjoyed. Anandpal’s encounter had led to massive protests by Rajputs, including violence, and the incident is perceived to have contributed to Rajputs drifting away from the BJP and causing the party’s defeat in the 2018 Rajasthan assembly election. Many even allege that he had been eliminated to erase evidence of the patronage given by some politicians, with whom he had fallen out.
Anandpal’s killing led to the mushrooming of other gangs and rise in street violence, including murders, even in prominent cities like Jaipur and Jodhpur. Gangs got audacious by the day. Haryana-based gangster Papla Gurjar was freed by his gang members from Behror police station in 2019.
The most prominent gang to emerge lately is that of Lawrence Bishnoi’s. On the run, many of Anandpal’s men had apparently got in touch with Bishnoi. His gang is now said to have risen above caste-based groupings and has members from various castes and communities.
Police say they are uncertain if Bishnoi’s gang was behind Theth’s killing. However, whichever way the investigations proceed, the police will need to beef up their preparedness for more potential revenge killings as long as gangsters in Rajasthan continue to thrive under caste and political patronage.
