First crime at age 10, ringleader of ‘ burgleandburn’ gang at 25
IN AND OUT OF JAIL Sanju has a decadeandahalflong ‘career’ in crime and cops fear he may again lapse into criminal activities as he is out on bail
NEW DELHI: The ‘uncrowned prince’ of the city’s gangsters is back. Released from a four-year stint in jail three months ago, 25-year-old Sanju (alias Sanjay), the ringleader of Firebrand Gang — a notorious ‘burgle-and-burn gang’ — has racked up a substantial number (more than 20) of crimes, including burglaries, thefts and armed robberies.
According to the police, he has been arrested in three cases — an armed robbery committed on January 25 this year, a failed robbery bid on February 11, and the possession of a pistol and three cartridges with the intent of attempting his modus operandi (setting the house on fire after a burglary) in a government flat in Sarojini Nagar committed on December 18 last year.
But the fact that he has been bailed out quickly (in less than a month) in one case (in the arms act case of December 18) and that the charges against him in the other two cases are not enough to keep him behind bars has been haunting south Delhi’s Sarojini Nagar,rkpuram andkotla Mubarakpur police.
They fear cases of burglary and arson will soon escalate on Delhi’s crime map with Sanju’s return. And not without reason. Sanju already has a decade-anda-half-long career in crime — more than a 1,000 burglaries, 17 arson cases across government colonies in south Delhi’s Laxmibai Nagar, Kotla Mubarakpur, RK Puram and Lodhi Colony, and countless escape bids from juvenile homes — to his name.
Sanju’s foray into crime began in 2002, when he was 10 years old (and living with his father and older sister in Sarojini Nagar) with a theft in the neighbourhood. “It’s all because of my father; he drove me to this life. I fell in bad company, got addicted to drugs, started stealing, and here I am,” Sanju had said in an interview to Hindustan Times after his arrest in 2011.
As Sanju’s criminal activities increased after 2007 (more than 20 cases of robbery, house breaking and burglaries and arson were reported till his arrest in 2011) and the police started raiding his house now and again, his father disowned him. He became a vagabond and started living on the pavements and hiding in empty water tanks of government flats to avoid arrest. “Sanju would get high on smack or white correction fluid with his associates . The group would commit burglaries by night. He targeted government flats that had window or split air conditioners as he believed that those who install ACS are rich and committing burglaries in such house earned him maximum profit,” says a police officer.
As a juvenile, Sanju was wellversed with the IPC and used all the loopholes he could find within the law to evade the police or get them a rap from the court.
“Sanju knew that the juvenile justice laws prohibit police to arrest a juvenile, handcuff him, interrogate him, keep him in police station lock-up, or send him to jail (instead sent to correction home). He used to harm himself by banging his head against the wall in the police station or by self-inflicting cuts before being produced before the juvenile justice board ,” says the officer.
His teenage years were marked by a spree of crimes and he seemed to embody three of the numerous tattoos across his body — denger (sic), darinda, mahakaal (danger, demon, destroyer).
The police managed to arrest him for the first time in February 2011 — two months after he turned 18. By then, he was the leader of approximately 35 likeminded juveniles and adults.
Inspector Sanjiv Mandal, who was instrumental in apprehending Sanju as many as five times between 2009 and 2011, says Sanju and his gang members targeted locked government flats. “They would scale houses using drain pipes, break open locks and decamp with cash and valuables. They would then set the house on fire to wipe out any accidental evidence. They believed it was auspicious,” says the inspector.
After he was released in October 2017, Sanju was first allegedly caught with a pistol, three bullets and a plastic packet of red chilli powder, following information that he was consuming heroin with his associates in a park in Laxmibai Nagar on December 18. Sanju was jailed but bailed out quickly in January this year. It took him less than a week to regroup with his cohorts and commit another crime.
On January 25 around 9.30 pm, V Sathish Prabhu Kumar, an assistant engineer posted to Tamil Nadu House, had stepped
Sanju and his gang members would set the house on fire to wipe out any accidental evidence . They also believed it was auspicious.
out of his car outside his government-allotted flat in Sarojini Nagar. Suddenly, four men stopped him and one of them put a pistol to his head. “The four allegedly robbed Kumar of his two expensive mobile phones and Rs 18,000, and fled on two motorcycles,” says another police officer privy to the case.
While a manhunt to nab Sanju was launched, he was caught red- handed by the locals during a snatching bid in North Delhi’s Rani Bagh on February 11.
When the Sarojini Nagar police learnt about Sanju’s arrest recently, they secured his police custody and arrested him in the robbery case. “His interrogation led to the solving of 10 more burglary and theft cases,” says a senior police officer. What the police is worried about is Sanju’s modus operandi while in jail. He meets like-minded inmates, forms a gang, and starts committing crimes once they are out.
“It is a part of policing to keep a watch on criminals. Preventive measures should be taken to make sure they do not begin a rerun of criminal activities,” said Dependra Pathak, special commissioner and chief spokesperson of the Delhi Police.