The two real gangs of Wasseypur — a Muslim-majority locality in Jharkhand’s coal capital Dhanbad — are preparing for war after a long hiatus, coincidentally when a movie revolving around their bloodletting releases on Friday.
Mobile phone intercepts of jailed ganglord Fahim Khan have alerted the police to the possibility of a fresh gang war in the now not so nondescript locality of Dhanbad district, around 190km north of capital Ranchi.
Khan, who is in Hazaribagh jail, is heard talking to contract killer Sujit Sinha, lodged in Ranchi jail, for eliminating rival ganglord Saabir Alam, according to sources in the state police headquarters.
Police did not find mobile phones from the gangsters in subsequent raids.
Khan and Alam, once close friends, turned enemies in 1995 and formed separate gangs that fought over extortion from contractors engaged in coal lifting and railway tenders.
Both have lost family members and at least a dozen associates in clashes. The frequency of the gang wars came down after both were jailed around eight years ago. Khan, accused in at least 56 criminal cases, is serving life sentence in a double murder case. Alam, jailed in a murder case, recently came out on bail, but found his gang weak.
Khan, according to sources, wants to strike now to become the undisputed king of Wasseypur, which actually does not have a coal mafia but is more known for Khan and Alam's bloody rivalry.
{{/usCountry}}Khan, according to sources, wants to strike now to become the undisputed king of Wasseypur, which actually does not have a coal mafia but is more known for Khan and Alam's bloody rivalry.
{{/usCountry}}“Yes, we got some information on the possible shootout between the two rival gangs and immediately took punitive measures,” Dhanbad superintendent of police Ravikant Dhan said on Thursday.
On June 15, police had raided the houses of the ganglords in Wasseypur. “We found nobody in the two houses, which are in the same lane and hardly 100 metres apart,” Dhan said.
Wasseypur’s “real story” has been brought to reel by writer Zeishan Quadri, who grew up in the locality, for director Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur.