Despite security, family lives in fear of fugitive gangster

NEW DELHI: They have had police protection for nearly seven years, ever since their father was murdered.

Yet two siblings in south Delhi’s Kishangarh have been living in fear since April 5.

On April 5, Vijay Pehalwan, the alleged killer of Chaudhary Raghubir Singh, 62, stepped out of prison after being granted two days of interim bail. Pehalwan, a ‘notorious gangster’ of Kishangarh, a neighborhood close to Vasant Kunj in south Delhi, has not returned to jail ever since. And Singh’s sons Baljeet Singh and Devendar Kumar, have since stopped venturing out of their homes unless they have to.

Pehalwan, police records show, is accused in 19 criminal cases that include murder, attempt to murder and extortion.

One of his alleged victims, Chaudhary Raghubir Singh, was found shot dead in Gurgaon’s Sushant Lok in May, 2011. A murder case was registered at Vasant Kunj (north) police station.

“My mother had seen Pehalwan lure my father out of our home before he was murdered. Pehalwan had killed him for refusing to concede to his extortion demands,” alleged the victim’s son, Baljeet Singh.

The victim’s wife was made the prime witness in the case and

Pehalwan arrested and tried for Singh’s murder. “Pehalwan’s family threatened us from time to time to dilute the case, but we refused to do so. The court provided us police protection, that we still have,” said Baljeet Singh.

But when Pehalwan did not return to jail at the end of his twoday interim bail period on April 7, people in the Kishangarh neighborhood started talking in hushed voices. Singh and the rest of his family were scared.

“People known to Pehalwan are saying that our entire family will be wiped off now that he has escaped from prison. Given his past record and the threats we were receiving, we know that our lives are in danger,” alleged Baljeet Singh.

So, Singh’s joint family has stopped venturing out of their home and their general store business has been mostly shut ever since Pehalwan went miss-

ing.

Since the children in the family have to attend school, Baljeet Singh and his brother Devendar escort them on motorcycles even as the children travel in a car in the company of policemen.

“Most people are afraid of standing up to Pehalwan, but we have decided to take the legal battle to its logical end. My elderly mother has been brave to stand as a witness despite all the hostility. But we cannot be living in fear for so long,” said Baljeet Singh.

Milind Dumbere, deputy commissioner of police (southwest), said multiple teams of local police, the special cell and the crime branch have been hunting for Pehalwan. “Given Pehalwan’s desperation and the potential threat to the victim’s family, we have deployed a police team in the Kishangarh neighborhood where they live,” said Dumbere.