New Delhi: A series of contract killings, extortions, ‘rangdari tax (extortion money)’—the ‘Sigma & Company’ had been creating havoc in Bihar’s Sitamarhi and neighbouring districts for three months. Such was its audacity that the gang members distributed self-proclamatory pamphlets to the media, taking responsibility for their crimes. That reign of terror ended in the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday in Delhi’s Rohini area.
A joint team of Delhi and Bihar Police shot down gang leader Ranjan Pathak (25) and his associates Aman Thakur (21), Vimlesh Mahato (25), and Manish Pathak (33) in the Rohini encounter.
“Evidence, including an audio clip, has been seized in which Ranjan Pathak is heard talking about spreading unrest before the elections,” the Bihar Police said in a statement. Bihar heads to elections in two phases on 6 and 11 November.
In a press conference, officers of the Delhi Police Crime Branch said that the encounter took place around 2:20 a.m. near Rohini Police Station.
Joint Commissioner, Crime Branch, Surender Kumar said the four men had opened fire at the police team and were killed in retaliatory firing. The police recovered four automatic pistols, one country-made pistol and a car.
The police had received inputs that the gang members were hiding in Delhi and were demanding extortion money from their targets. The Bihar police had been on the lookout for Ranjan Pathan and his men, conducting raids in multiple cities, including Ludhiana.
Multiple cases
Ranjan Pathak, a native of Radhour Malahi village, was wanted in at least eight cases, including murder and extortion, the police said.
Aman Thakur from Dostiya village faced four cases of serious offences. So did Vimlesh Mahato from Ratanpura village. Manish Pathak from Malahi village was wanted in multiple murder cases. The four men were from Bihar.
The first case against Ranjan Pathak was registered in April 2019 under the erstwhile Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections for murder and criminal conspiracy. The cases against the others killed in the encounter are from this year itself.
The Bihar Police had earlier announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for the arrest of Ranjan Pathak and two others, and Rs 25,000 each for Vimlesh Mahato, Aman Thakur, and others.
The ‘Sigma & Company’ gang, the Bihar police said, was involved in at least four murder cases in the last three months.
The gang members had killed a man by pumping six bullets in July, it said in a press statement. The next month, Pathak and his gang shot Madan Kumar Kushwaha five times in another contract killing at Dumra.
In another contract killing case, the gang allegedly shot the former president of Brahmi Sena, Ganesh Sharma, outside his home in Lagama in September. Shravan Yadav was killed similarly inside his shop in Choraut for a contract of Rs 1.17 lakh.
The gang had been threatening Yadav, a Customer Service Point (CSP) operator, with dire consequences if he did not give in to their demand of Rs 45 lakh. This case was registered 13 October at the Garha police station in Bihar.
Vaibhav Pant is an alumnus of ThePrint School of Journalism, currently interning with ThePrint.
Also Read: Delhi riots conspiracy case trial is caught in a loop—500+ dates, 160+ adjournments and counting