Sundar Bhati was serving a life sentence for the murder of a Samajwadi Party leader. (Representational)
Lucknow:
Notoriousย gangsterย Sundarย Bhati, serving a life sentence for the murder of Samajwadi Party leader Harendra Nagar and his gunner Bhudev Sharma, has been grantedย bailย by theย Allahabadย High Court and has gone underground since then.
Following his release from Sonbhadra jail, sources report thatย Bhatiย quietly boarded a flight from Varanasiย toย Delhi. He is believedย toย have since gone into hiding in Haryana, with a Special Task Force (STF) team from western Uttar Pradesh closely monitoring his movements, sources said on Saturday.
Bhati, regarded as one of the most influentialย gangsters in western Uttar Pradesh, is from Ghanghola village in Gautam Buddh Nagar district and has more than 60 cases of murder, attempted murder, extortion, robbery, and assault registered against him.
Before his detention in Sonbhadra,ย Bhatiย was held at Hamirpur jail, where he reportedly established contact with Sunny, one of three gunmen accused in the murder ofย gangsterย Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in Prayagraj in April 2023.ย Bhatiย is saidย toย have recruited Sunny into his network.
With this connection,ย Bhati’s name has surfaced in investigations relatedย toย the Atiq-Ashraf case. Some reports suggest thatย Bhatiย facilitated the supply of Zigana pistols, a foreign semi-automatic firearm manufactured in Turkey,ย toย the shooters involved.
Following Sunny’s release from Hamirpur jail, he reportedly stayed in contact withย Bhati’s associates, ultimately obtaining a Zigana pistol throughย Bhati’s network.
The gang leader’s influence has reportedly grown following the encounter killing of his rival Anil Dujana in May 2023, just a month after the Atiq-Ashraf murder case.
With Dujana’s death,ย Bhatiย is believedย toย have attemptedย toย expand his control over the scrap business in western Uttar Pradesh.
In 2015,ย Bhatiย and his associates fatally shot SP leader Harendra Nagar and his gunner during a wedding event in Greater Noida.
In 2021,ย Bhati, along with 11 of his accomplices, was sentencedย toย life imprisonment for the murders.
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