Police tighten security at Ayush Komkar’s funeral amid gang war fears

Police, fearing fresh violence during the cremation, deployed two deputy commissioners of police (DCPs) and large contingents of force in and around the crematorium. Additional vans were stationed at sensitive points while crowd control measures were strictly enforced.

PUNE: The funeral of 22-year-old Ayush alias Govind Komkar, grandson of veteran gangster Suryakant alias Bandu Andekar, was held on Monday at Vaikunth Crematorium under unprecedented police security. Ayush, son of jailed gangster Ganesh Komkar, was gunned down in Nana Peth on September 5 in what investigators believe was a revenge killing orchestrated by his grandfather Bandu, marking a chilling new turn in Pune’s gangland saga where family bonds have collapsed into deadly rivalries.

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Police, fearing fresh violence during the cremation, deployed two deputy commissioners of police (DCPs) and large contingents of force in and around the crematorium. Additional vans were stationed at sensitive points while crowd control measures were strictly enforced.

Ganesh Komkar, currently lodged in Nagpur jail for his alleged role in the killing of former corporator Vanraj Andekar, was brought under tight police escort to perform his son’s last rites. The cremation was delayed until his arrival. Holding a handmade card Ayush had once sent him — with childhood photographs pasted on it — Ganesh broke down. “My son would never do anything wrong. Why did he get dragged into this when he hadn’t done anything?” he reportedly asked police personnel present at the spot.

Police commissioner Amitesh Kumar admitted that investigators had not expected such an extreme act. “We foiled a murder conspiracy in Katraj based on intelligence, but in this case, there was no input or expectation that someone would go to the extent of killing their own grandson for revenge,” he said.

“Some arrests have been made and strict action will follow.”

The blood feud traces back to the 1970s, when the Andekar gang, originally from the Kashi Kapadi community, clashed with Pramod Malvadkar’s gang over territory. Balkrushna Andekar was gunned down by Malvadkar inside Shivajinagar court in 1984, sparking over a decade of gang wars until Malvadkar was killed in a police encounter in 1997. Bandu Andekar then emerged as the city’s undisputed crime boss before the family shifted into politics, even winning the Pune mayor’s post in 1998.

But mistrust and power struggles within the family reignited hostilities. Bandu’s daughters had married brothers Ganesh and Jayant Komkar, once his trusted aides. In 2023, the Andekar gang attacked a Komkar associate, triggering more violence. By 2024, Bandu’s son Vanraj and daughter Sanjivani were openly at odds, culminating in Vanraj’s murder in Nana Peth last September. Police allege Komkar men and Bandu’s former aide Somnath Gaikwad were involved.

The cycle continues

Investigators say Ayush’s killing was the Andekar camp’s answer to Vanraj’s murder. Four shooters pumped bullets into him in his residential parking lot on August 30, just before Ganesh immersion processions began. A police officer said, “As per the complaint filed by Ayush’s mother, Bandu Andekar has been named as a conspirator. His exact role will be clear only after a detailed investigation.”

For now, the police remain on high alert. The killing of Ayush Komkar has not just reignited Pune’s gang rivalry but also exposed how deeply fractured the Andekar-Komkar family has become, where fathers, brothers, and now grandsons have all become casualties of a feud that refuses to die.