Behind Bihar ex-BJP MLA kin’s ‘reprisal’ killings, flaring Pandav Sena gang wars

A private army of the upper caste Bhumihar community, Pandav Sena, was formed by five Bhumihar friends – Bablu Singh, Ashok Singh and Bipin Sharma besides Chitranjan and Sanjay – in Neema village under the Dhanarua police station near Patna in 1992. It was floated amid the then raging caste wars in Bihar in a bid to take on Naxals.

The militia however turned into a gang of extortionists, that unleashed terror among businessmen, doctors and brick kiln owners in the belt between late 1990s until 2004.

According to the senior superintendent of police (SSP), Patna, Manavjit Singh Dhillon, Bablu Singh, one of the six accused arrested in the murders of Chitranjan’s brothers, Shambhu (32) and Gautam (28), told the police that “Gautam had gone to Neema village and had been making fun of us. Bablu alleged Chitranjan Singh could be behind murder of Sudhir Kumar”.

The SSP said the background of Pandav Sena and the trail of violence would be important factors in the police investigations into the 31 May twin murder case. He said the police was conducting raids to arrest the five accused in the case including the prime accused Sanjay Singh.

“The group led by Sanjay Singh accumulated huge wealth through public donations and arms in the name of protecting people against Maoists. But with time, Pandav Sena were engaged in extortion. The gang members later had differences with one another. In October 2004, Bablu Singh and Ashok Singh were allegedly killed in Garhwa, Jharkhand. The third member Bipin Sharma was killed in an accident a few months later,” the SSP said.

In 2004, former Union minister Subodhkant Sahay’s grandson Prashant Sahay was shot dead in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh in which Sanjay Singh was one of the accused. Chitranjan Singh was an informant in the case.

This led to a face-off between Sanjay and Chitranjan – two surviving Pandav Sena founders.

Since then, more than a dozen murders and attempt to murder cases had been lodged so far against the members of their gangs because of their war for dominance.

Their battle of attrition however subsided after Chitranjan became the BJP MLA from Arwal in 2010. But an attack on Sanjay in 2020, in which he survived, again triggered renewed violence between the two gangs.

On 26 April this year, Chitranjan’s uncle Abhiram Sharma was killed in Jehanabad and on the same day his cousin Dinesh Sharma was also killed in Masaurhi near Patna. Nitish Kumar, a shooter arrested in the Dinesh murder case, is said to be close to Sanjay Singh.

On 26 May this year, Sudhir Kumar, another accused in the Dinesh murder case, was found killed near the Neema railway halt. A case of murder is lodged against unknown persons. But Patna police does not rule out revenge killing in this case too.

Both Chitranjan and Sanjay face a number of serious criminal cases. However, none of them has been convicted in any case so far.

Neema village sources said Chitranjan and Sanjay had also been at war over the possession of more than 20 bighas of land along the Patna-Gaya highway. The price of one katha of land in the area is said to be worth Rs 40-50 lakh, even as a bigha has 20 kathas.

A local resident Pankaj Kumar said, “It is nothing but fight over dominance. All Pandav Sena members had availed benefits of extortion from railway contracts and later resorted to extortion from businessmen and doctors. Due to terror of Pandav Sena, mass migration of businessmen had taken place in the area in the late 1990s.”

Pandav Sena was formed at a time when Ranbir Sena (a major upper caste private army, now disbanded) head Barmeshwar Singh or Barmeshwar Mukhiya had given the slogan of “Sona becho, loha kharido (sell your jewellery to buy firearms)”. Patna, Jehanabad and Gaya districts saw over two dozen massacre cases between 1980 and 2000, in which over 400 people, belonging to upper castes and OBC / SC communities, were killed.