Ahead of his court appearance, dreaded gangster Prem Prakash Singh alias Munna Bajrangi was shot dead inside the district jail at 6.30 am today, the police said. He was shot 10 times in the head by another gangster Sunil Rathi. 

Rathi has been nabbed by the Police. Bajrangi was brought here from Jhansi jail yesterday and was to be produced in a local court today in a case for demanding extortion money from BJP MLA Lokesh Dixit.

The gangster's wife had recently in a press conference alleged that conspiracies were being hatched to kill her husband.

In 2005, Bajrangi was named in the killing of former BJP legislator Krishnanad Rai. He served in prison since 2009. Also, he’s accused in 40 other murder and extortion cases.

According to ANI reports, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adiyanath was quoted as saying, "Ordered a judicial inquiry and suspension of the jailor. Such an incident occurring inside jail premises is a serious matter. Will conduct an in-depth investigation and strict action to be taken against those responsible”.

According to ADG Prison Chandraprakash, four jail personnel, including the deputy jailer, have been suspended following the incident.

Criminal record of Munna Bajrangi:

  • Munna Bajrangi alias Prem Prakash Singh belonged to the Mukhtar Ansari gang active, since the 1990s, mostly in eastern Uttar Pradesh also known as Purvanchal.
  • Other dreaded, politician-gangsters active in the State were Hari Shankar Tiwari, DP Yadav, Raja Bhaiyya, Brijesh Singh and Krishnanand Rai.
  • Regions most affected by the criminal activities of the gangs above were Mau, Ghazipur, Varanasi and Jaunpur.
  • Most of these gangsters were associated with the Samajwadi Party; a few had links with the BJP.
  • In 2005, Bajrangi, along with Firdaus, Ata ur Rahman alias Babu, Aijazul Haque, Vishwas Nepali, Sanjeev Maheshwari, Rakesh Pandey and Ramu Mallah attacked Rai’s gang, firing about 400 rounds from their AK-47 rifles, while the latter were travelling in two Toyota Qualis cars. This wiped out the entire gang of Rai comprising seven goons.
  • In 2009, police arrested Bajrangi from the Shanty Siddivinayak Residential Society in the Malad neighbourhood of Mumbai.

His criminal record notwithstanding, Bajrangi contested in the Assembly election of Uttar Pradesh in 2012 as an inmate of Tihar Jail from the constituency of Mariyahu. He was jointly fielded by the Apna Dal and Peace Party. He was the second runner-up for that seat won by the Samajwadi Party’s Shraddha Yadav.

Other incidents of extra-judicial killings this year:

  • In June, Ramji Mishra was beaten up in Gopiganj police station in Bhadhoi, and died in custody. Mishra was arrested following a dispute with his brother.
  • Earlier in April, the Unnao gangrape victim was seeking justice for her father’s custodial death. Allegedly, Surendra Kumar was murdered by MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar who was named as the accused by the rape victim. 
  • In April, Narendra Singh too met the same fate in Mawana. He was arrested on cow slaughter charges which were later found to be false. 

With inputs from agencies