Munna Bajrangi

Prakash said Bajrangi suffered gunshot in his head and succumbed to injuries while being taken to the jail hospital.

Among those suspended are jailor Uday Pratap Singh, his deputy Shivaji Yadav, head warder Arjinder Singh and warder Madhav Kumar.

Sunil Rathi, a dreaded name in west Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, stepped into the world of crime after the murder of his father Naresh Rathi, the then chairman of Tikait nagar panchayat, and brother (his identity could not be ascertained) in 1998 allegedly by their political rival Sompal Rathi of the same village.

Rathi’s gang is mostly active in west UP, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Haryana.

Meanwhile, chief minister Yogi Adityanath assured an in-depth investigation into the matter. “We have ordered a judicial inquiry and suspension of the jailor. Such an incident occurring inside jail premises is a serious matter. We will conduct an in-depth investigation and strict action will be taken against those responsible,” Adityanath said.

Demanding a CBI inquiry into the case, Munna Bajrangi’s wife Seema Singh accused the administration, some senior officials and rival gangsters of hatching the conspiracy that led to Baj- rangi’s killing in Baghpat jail “because Bajrangi had decided to try his luck in politics.”

Bajrangi had unsuccessfully contested UP assembly elections in 2012 from Mariyahu as a joint candidate of Apna Dal and Peace Party.

Seema accused former MP Dhananjay Singh, his aide Pradeep Singh and his father GN Singh for hatching the conspiracy to eliminate her husband.

“They feared for their political fate after the decision of my husband to come into politics. Therefore, they hatched the conspiracy to eliminate him in a wellplanned way,” she said.

Bajrangi’s brother-in-law and lawyer Vikas Srivastava said they had warned the government about the danger to his life. “A few days ago, we had made the UP CM aware of threat to Munna Bajrangi’s life,” Srivastava said.

“Bajrangi was not well and was undergoing treatment. Due to his illness, hearings in different cases of Varanasi and Delhi were being done through video conferencing,” he said.

“He had also pleaded for hearing through video conferencing in Baghpat court too but the officials were adamant despite our objection,” Srivastava said.

Senior police officials said Bajrangi, who had been in jail since his arrest from Mumbai in January 2009, allegedly operated an extortion racket with help of his aides while remaining behind bars.