Times of India, Jamuary 31, 2004

A mafia town?
VINOD BEHL

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2004 03:11:19 AM ]

The New Year has brought organised criminals to Gurgaon, adding a new dimension to the city's crime scene. On January 10, when Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and Swedish Prime Minister were inaugurating a corporate complex in DLF, a gang war erupted in its full fury in the district courts a few kilometers away. Armed assailants opened fire on an undertrial and the cop escorting him in court premises, killing the constable. The police which was on high alert in the city due to the visit of state chief minister Om Prakash Chautala and Swedish premier gave a hot chase to the gangsters, killing three of them. One of the assailants was arrested while the kingpin managed to give the police a slip. The police also recovered a large cache of arms including carbines and foreign made pistols, besides country-made pistols from the gangsters.   The incident sent shockwaves among Gurgaonites, particularly as it came close on the heels of the recovery of two bodies with multiple bullet injuries from the bylanes of Sadar Bazar area in the heart of city. The murdered men were the alleged victims of gang rivalry.  

The New Year also witnessed the emergence of land or tender mafia in the city in view of the rapid industrialization leading to the real estate boom. The tender mafia made an open display of strength, threatening contractors and officials of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) at gunpoint. So much so that an executive engineer of HUDA had to lodge a police complaint against the assailants who made a forcible entry into his office at the time of opening tenders. The criminals snatched the tenders and manipulated the rates and even threatened to kill the engineer. Later the police managed to arrest the gangsters.

 With the land mafia and gangsters calling the shots, Gurgaon has been witnessing a spurt in murders in the recent weeks. Last month, a Jalandhar-based businessman was allegedly gunned down by his business adversaries in DLF City while he was returning home from Delhi along with his brothers.

A couple of months before this incident, another daring case of car jacking had occurred when unidentified criminals intercepted the car of Gurgaon Municipal Committee Chairman, forced the occupants out of the car at gun point and fled with the car.