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Gangs of Jaunpur: Munna Bajrangi’s life and killing give a glimpse into UP crime and politics

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8 years ago

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Gangs of Jaunpur: Munna Bajrangi’s life and killing give a glimpse into UP crime and politics

Dreaded Uttar Pradesh gangster Prem Prakash Singh alias Munna Bajrangi was shot dead in Baghpat jail on Monday, hours before he was to be produced in a district court this morning.

Just a week earlier, his wife had alleged a threat to his life.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said: “I have 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.”

The jailor and his deputy and two others have been suspended.

Arrested in Mumbai in October 2009, Munna was wanted in several cases of murder, loot, extortion and other crimes, most notably for the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in 2005. Rai was ambushed while he and his associates were travelling on Lucknow highway in two vehicles. Munna and his men sprayed the vehicles with AK47 and Rai was shot more than 100 times. Six others with him were killed in the attack

Bajrangi was accused in more than 40 murder and extortion cases and once carried a reward of 7 lakh on his head.

The gangster was also wanted in the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in 2005. In 2012, he had also contested Assembly Elections from inside the jail as a joint candidate of Apna Dal and Peace Party from Madiyahu seat, reported NDTV. Though, he did not win the elections but stood at third place and secured 12% votes.

Rai’s wife Alka Rai, a BJP MLA from Mohammadabad expressed relief and happiness at the news of Munna’s killing, saying she was living in constant fear for her children due to him. Some days ago, she, said, her children were accused of being involved in killing Munna Bajrangi’s wife’s brother.

In various jails since his arrest, the gangster had been transferred to the prison in Baghpat from Jhansi on Sunday for being produced in the district court in a case for demanding extortion money from BJP MLA Lokesh Dixit, said media reports.

According to Additional Director General (ADG), Prison, Chandra Prakash, gangster Sunil Rathi, lodged in the same prison, opened fire on Bajrangi in the early hours of Monday. Sources say around 6.30 am in the Baghpat prison, when the inmates were having tea, another prisoner Sunil Rathi, fired at Bajrangi, killing him instantly, said media reports. While Rathi has been detained, jailer, deputy jailer, warden and head warden have been suspended.

“However, the larger question, which police will investigate, is how did an inmate managed to get a firearm inside the jail,” he added.Munna Bajrangi.

Bajrangi’s wife Seema Singh had said on June 29, “STF wants my husband to be killed inside the jail. The Special Task Force inspector had visited Jhansi jail recently to hatch a conspiracy to kill my husband. They are constantly inquiring about my husband’s health. I have informed the court about it and I also request chief minister Yogi Adityanath to intervene in the matter.”

A report by ANI quoted ADG Prison as saying: “There was altercation b/w Sunil Rathi&him after which he shot him dead. He has been detained&is being interrogated. Jailor,Dy Jailor,Warden&Head Warden have been suspended.Have requested judicial&magisterial inquiry”

SP Baghpat told ANI UP: “Sunil Rathi has been accused of killing Gangster Munna Bajrangi; Body sent for postmortem, fair investigation will be done.”

V Srivastava,advocate of gangster Munna Bajrangi, told ANI UP: “He was brought to District Jail Baghpat from Jhansi,last night. At 6;30am today,a convict lodged in the jail shot him dead&hid the pistol in a gutter. Few days ago,we had made UP CM aware of threat to gangster Munna Bajrangi’s life”

Bajrangi, accused in as many as 40 cases of murder and extortion, had once survived an encounter with the police in 1998 after he was shot nine times. 

Life and crimes of Munna Bajrangi – and the political linkages

Born in 1967 to a family in Jaunpur, Munna Bajrangi alias Prem Prakash Singh was a school dropout – he had quit studies after Class V and by adolescence had developed criminal tendencies. Fond of keeping weapons, he was booked for being involved in a fight and possessing illegal arms when he was just about 17 years old.

That was only the beginning of his career in crime. With ambitions of making a name in crime, he got patronage of local strongman Gajraj Singh. In 1984, still 17 years of age, he murdered a businessman during a robbery. After that he killed a BJP leader of Jaunpur. With this explosive start, he went on to commit several other murders.

Seeking to increase his clout and influence in eastern UP, Poorvanchal, he joined the gang of criminal-politician Mukhtar Ansari. The gang became even more powerful after Ansari got elected as an MLA from Mau on Samjawadi Party ticket. Munna now directly started controlling allocation of government contracts.

Around this time, BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai started emerging as a challenge. His gang was backed by Mukhtar Ansari’s arch rival Brijesh Singh. Irked by Rai’s rising influence, Mukhtar gave Munna the job of getting rid of him. On November 29, 2005, he ambushed Rai who was travelling with two vehicles on Lucknow highway. Over 400 rounds were sprayed on the vehicles with AK47. Krishnanand Rai and six others were killed in the attack, each hit by 60 to 100 bullets.

Munna now becae the most dreaded, most wanted gangster. UP Police, STF and CBI were after him and a reward of Rs.7 lakh announced for him. Hunted in UP and Delhi, Munna moved to Mumbai. He also managed to travel abroad and developed more contacts in the underworld. He started handling his gang members over phone from Mumbai.

Munna also tried his hand in politics and tried to get a BJP ticket for a woman from Ghazipur Lok Sabha seat. This was not liked by Mukhtar who stopped helping Munna’s men. After failing to make any headway with BJP, Munna went to a Congress leader who was from Jaunpur but practices politics in Mumbai. Munna Bajrangi had backed him in Maharashtra assembly polls.

Munna was wanted in several cases in many states, the largest number being in UP. Munna is said to have boasted of committing 40 murders in his crime career of 20 years. He was nabbed from Malad in Mumbai by Delhi Police in a dramatic operation on October 29, 2009. It is said that Munna got himself arrested out of fear of getting killed in encounter. Delhi Police was reported to have said that Munna was a suspect in the killing of the controversial encounter specialist Rajbir Singh.

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Mother Dairy raises milk prices by Rs 2-4 per litre from November 12

Mother Dairy has increased milk prices by Rs 2-4 per litre from November 12. Full cream milk will now cost Rs 76 per litre, while toned milk will be priced at Rs 62.

Published

23 hours ago

on

November 11, 2026

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mother dairy

Mother Dairy has increased the prices of its liquid milk variants by Rs 2 to Rs 4 per litre, with the revised rates coming into effect from Thursday, November 12. The price revision will affect consumers in the Delhi-NCR market, where the dairy company is a major milk supplier.

The increase comes amid rising input costs, particularly higher procurement prices paid to farmers. According to sources, the company has decided to pass on part of the additional cost to consumers.

A spokesperson for Mother Dairy declined to comment on the latest price revision.

Check new Mother Dairy milk prices

The revised rates cover several liquid milk variants sold in the NCR market. Full cream milk has seen the highest increase of Rs 4 per litre.

Here are the revised prices:

Milk variantOld priceNew price
Toned milk (bulk vended)Rs 58Rs 60
Full cream milk (pouched)Rs 72Rs 76
Toned milk (pouched)Rs 60Rs 62
Double toned milkRs 54Rs 56
Cow milkRs 62Rs 65

The new prices will be applicable from November 12.

Why Mother Dairy has increased milk prices

The latest revision follows an increase in the procurement prices of milk from farmers. Sources said the higher procurement costs have prompted Mother Dairy to partly transfer the additional input expenses to consumers.

The company passes on around 75-80 per cent of its milk sales realisation to farmers.

Mother Dairy had last increased milk prices on May 14, 2026. Before that, its previous price revision took place in April 2025.

Mother Dairy’s daily milk sales

Mother Dairy sells approximately 35 lakh litres of milk every day in the Delhi-NCR market through its own outlets, general trade channels and e-commerce platforms.

Its overall daily milk sales exceed 50 lakh litres.

The company recorded a 17 per cent increase in turnover to Rs 20,300 crore in the last financial year. The growth was supported by improved demand for its milk products and cooking oils.

About Mother Dairy

Commissioned in 1974, Mother Dairy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).

The company sells milk and milk products under the Mother Dairy brand. It markets edible oils under the Dhara brand, while fresh fruits and vegetables, frozen vegetables, snacks, pulps and concentrates are sold under the Safal brand.

Mother Dairy operates nine milk processing plants and four horticulture processing plants. Its edible oil operations are supported by 16 associated plants.

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Air pollution as big a health emergency as COVID, says former WHO chief Soumya Swaminathan

Former WHO Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan said air pollution should be treated with the same urgency as COVID, highlighting its effects on children, pregnancy and multiple organs.

Published

24 hours ago

on

November 11, 2026

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air pollution

Air pollution should be treated as a major public health emergency requiring an urgent and coordinated response, former World Health Organisation (WHO) Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan has said.

In an exclusive interview, Dr Swaminathan compared the scale of the air pollution health crisis with COVID and said its effects can extend across the body, including the brain, lungs and cardiovascular system. She also highlighted links between pollution exposure and conditions such as asthma and diabetes.

Why air pollution needs a COVID-like response

Dr Swaminathan said COVID triggered an immediate public response because it was sudden, visible and associated with an unknown virus. Air pollution, by contrast, is often less visible and its effects accumulate over time.

She said people may become accustomed to pollution because it is not always visible, particularly outside the winter months. But she stressed that prolonged exposure can still cause serious health damage.

She called for the issue to receive an “equal, urgent, coordinated and scientific” response, similar to the approach taken during the COVID crisis.

PM2.5 poses risks from pregnancy to childhood

Dr Swaminathan also highlighted concerns about exposure to fine particulate matter, particularly PM2.5, among pregnant women and children.

According to her, these tiny particles can enter the lungs and bloodstream and may also reach the placenta. She pointed to higher rates of premature births and low birth weight among babies born in areas where mothers are exposed to high levels of air pollution.

She also said children are particularly vulnerable because their brains and other organs are developing rapidly. Children breathe faster than adults, and those growing up in heavily polluted areas can have smaller lungs, she said.

Why AQI may not tell the full health story

Dr Swaminathan suggested moving beyond the conventional Air Quality Index (AQI) towards an Air Quality Health Index (AHQI).

The proposal would place greater emphasis on how individual pollutants affect different groups of people. She noted that the dominant pollutant can vary from one city to another, while its health impact may also differ for groups such as pregnant women and children.

The current AQI uses eight major pollutants as parameters: PM10, PM2.5, ozone, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, lead and ammonia. The overall AQI is determined by the highest pollutant sub-index.

Swaminathan does not favour shutting schools

On protecting children from polluted air, Dr Swaminathan said she was not in favour of simply closing schools.

She argued that children from poorer families may continue breathing polluted air at home, while also losing access to education, social interaction and midday meals.

Instead, she suggested making school environments cleaner. Her proposals included installing air purifiers in classrooms, providing pick-and-drop bus facilities and encouraging older children to wear masks when outdoors.

Five measures suggested to tackle pollution

Dr Swaminathan outlined five key measures for addressing the pollution crisis:

  1. Launch a national clean air programme, which she suggested could be called the “Swachh Vaayu Abhiyan”.
  2. Prepare a costed, long-term plan with sustained investment and study lessons from countries such as China.
  3. Establish empowered leadership and accountability for tackling air pollution.
  4. Create a panel of experts to develop a science-based, multi-sectoral and multi-year plan.
  5. Put health at the centre of air pollution policy.

She also supported treating the right to clean air as a basic public health entitlement, linking it to the constitutional right to life.

Dr Swaminathan’s central argument was that air pollution should no longer be treated as a slow-moving or routine environmental problem, but as a serious health crisis requiring sustained action.

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Terrorists open fire at CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam, search operation underway

Terrorists opened fire on CRPF personnel at a naka in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district. The attackers fled and a search operation was launched.

Published

1 day ago

on

November 11, 2026

By

jammu and kashmir encounter

Unidentified assailants opened fire on Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Wednesday afternoon, according to the CRPF.

The incident took place at a security naka in the Kulgam area. The attackers, who were reportedly travelling on a motorcycle, fled after opening fire on the security personnel.

According to the CRPF statement, the firing occurred at around 2:15 pm. The injured personnel were shifted to a hospital in Anantnag district for treatment.

Search operation launched for attackers

Following the firing, security forces launched a cordon and search operation to locate the attackers.

The assailants have not been identified so far, and further details about the incident are awaited.

What happened in Kulgam

The CRPF personnel were deployed at a naka when the unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants opened fire at them. After the attack, the assailants fled from the spot.

The CRPF said the injured personnel were taken to a hospital in Anantnag for medical treatment. A search operation was subsequently launched to track down those responsible for the attack.

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