Behind bars, underworld wages a war for 'social justice'

The killing of an Indian Mujahideen operative in Pune's Yerawada Prison coincides with an interesting confession that the Bangalore police have recently received. A man closely associated with an operative of the underworld has claimed that people were being paid to eliminate members of Dawood Ibrahim's gang and Islamic terrorists in prisons across India.

Although the killing at the Yerawada jail may have nothing to do with this confession, this angle may require a detailed probe, says an official of the Bangalore police.

A couple of days ago, one Raghu was apprehended by the Bangalore police while he was on his way back from Bangkok. Raghu is allegedly associated with an underworld operative based on Bangkok called H Manju.

The Bangalore police had earlier found a large cache of arms and ammunition being smuggled out. When they started their probe, the trail led to Manju who, according to the police, is associated with the Ravi Poojary gang.

Raghu, in his confession, told the police that during meetings with his boss, he had heard him say that money was being spent in large amounts to eliminate members of Dawood's gang and the Indian Mujahideen, lodged in various jails in India.

Manju had reportedly talked about identifying these members and eliminating them inside the jail.

According to the police, the underworld seems to be getting polarised once again. The first signs of such a divide were seen during the split between Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan.

This tactic has earlier been adopted by members of Dawood's gang. Yusuf Madoor, a member of the D gang who was arrested, was also in India to identify inmates who could be targeted.

The different factions of the underworld have now taken their fight to prison cells, say the police.

The claims made by Raghu are currently under investigation.

"We have been getting inputs from the Intelligence Bureau regarding such plans and have been on the trail ever since," says a police officer.

These members of the underworld want to portray themselves as the carriers of social justice and hence this ploy has been deployed, he says.

A similar case had taken place earlier when a member of the Chhota Rajan gang leaked out information that Riyaz Bhatkal had been killed in Pakistan. Although that piece of news remains unverified till date, the reason for the killing given at that time was that Bhatkal was an anti-national and hence he had to meet his fate at the hand of "patriots".