Bambiha syndicate is the newest entrant in Delhi’s crowded crime landscape
NEW DELHI: Delhi cops are on their toes with the initial investigation into a firing incident at a businessman’s house in northwest Delhi’s Rani Bagh pointing towards the possible involvement of the Bambiha syndicate. This marks a third entrant into Delhi’s mafiadom, which is already plagued by the Lawrence Bishnoi and Himanshu Bhau gangs.
While Bishnoi managed to gun down businessman Nadir Shah in an area like Greater Kailash-I, Bhau has been cocking a snook at Delhi cops with incidents like a murder in a crowded Burger King restaurant and multiple shooting incidents at car showrooms in the capital.
The Bambihas are arch-rivals of Lawrence Bishnoi. Bishnoi, it is believed, decided to kill Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala after he released a song titled ‘Bambiha Bole’, a cop who interrogated Bishnoi last year recalled.
The leadership of the Bambihas is scattered after its kingpin, Davinder Bambiha, was killed in an encounter with police in 2016. While jailed gangster Kaushal Chaudhary has been overseeing the affairs of the gang along with his associates Amit Dagar, Fateh Nagri and others, fugitive Gaurav, alias Lucky Patial, is heading the group from the US or Armenia. Until now, the group was active in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Police are particularly alarmed by the development because of the close association of the Bambihas with pro-Khalistan factions, including Khalistan Tiger Force. After the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, KTF’s new chief, Arsh Dala, has been working closely with the Bambihas. In 2022, Dala orchestrated the murder of a Hindu man in Delhi as a ‘test task’ for his two henchmen — Naushad and Jagga — who wanted to make it big.
A dossier on the Bambihas says that while terrorising people through extortion, intimidation and killings, the group has subsequently associated with Pro-Khalistani elements and extremists. “Despite being apprehended under organised crime acts like MCOCA and jailed, most of these gangsters flourished while operating from behind bars. While in jail, they transformed into militants and created a deadly terror-criminal nexus, which is not only susceptible to exploitation by external forces inimical to India but also dangerous to national security,” reads the dossier.
According to a chargesheet filed by National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Bambiha group and its affiliate gangs have wreaked havoc in north India with sensational killings. “They have murdered kabaddi players, political functionaries, etc in a bid to increase their influence. They terrorise people and carry out extortion from businessmen, singers, etc. They committed the murder of Jitender Gogi before a judicial officer in the Rohini Court complex,” says the document.
“These incidents are similar to executions carried out by the underworld in the 1990s, which included the murder of Gulshan Kumar, owner of T-Series, the killing of Thakiyudeen Wahid, managing director of East-West Airlines, and the murder of Datta Samant….” says the chargesheet.
