Who was Bunty?

Bunty was wanted in 42 cases. He has 18 serious crimes, including five murders, in 55 days (between June 13 to August 8) to his credit.

“Do you study English? Yes I do.” These are the first lines on Om Prakash alias Bunty’s exercise book. He was learning English through Rapidex English Speaking Course to improve on his language.

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Bunty was wanted in 42 cases. He has 18 serious crimes, including five murders, in 55 days (between June 13 to August 8) to his credit.

The 30-year-old was a class IV dropout from Sangam Vihar. His ambition in life was to be one of the big names in the world of crime.

He even visited a temple in Morena (den of Chambal dacoits) in Madhya Pradesh to pay obeisance to Goddess Kali for success in all “the crimes he committed in July” before being gunned down.

Once a police informer, Bunty took to crime at the age of 19. His first crime was picking pockets on Blueline buses. The police said Bunty wanted to become a “don”. Though he was involved in a spate of motorcycle snatchings, he himself did not know how to ride a bike, said a senior officer. It was his “close aide”, Rajesh alias Panni, resident of Noida, who drove his bike. Rajesh, who was killed in the Monday encounter along with Bunty, was also an expert “auto driver”.

Bunty was out on bail and had orchestrating a series of crimes -- of robberies-at-gunpoint, thefts, bike-snatchings and murders – since April this year.

These crimes were meant to instill fear in the hearts of people and “extort money from them”, said senior Delhi police officer.

About 5 foot and 7 inches in height, he had a thin frame and was working hard to shed his image as “just another criminal from the Sangam Vihar slum”. Sources said he never trusted his aides and maintained a diary where he had written the phone numbers in “a code language” that only he could decipher.

“He was planning to start an extortion racket in his name. His aides who were caught recently told us he was trying to make the most from the notoriety he had gained this year when he murdered four persons in a week. He was aware that people in Delhi knew him,” said a senior police officer.

He also became an inspiration for youngsters in Sangam Vihar who wanted to make quick money. A student of Delhi University and another youngster who were arrested recently for Bunty-style robberies, told police how they were inspired by this homegrown criminal.

The police also recovered a Hindi magazine from his hideout that carried the story “most wanted don” in its edition. One of his associates, Zakir, who was arrested in July, told the police that Bunty had no fear of the law.

He married few years ago but his wife left him after she became fed up with his activities.

The police recovered three foreign-made pistols and other ammunition from his hideout.

Of late, Bunty was shifting base to Karnal and Kurukshtera. He had led an abortive bid to rob a local Punjab and Sindh bank branch in Karnal.