New Delhi: The echo of gunfire outside a gym in UP’s Shamli on Aug 26 did more than just silence 27-year-old Haryanvi singer and YouTuber Ankit Balyan. It marked the revival of Delhi’s most feared Gogi gang, suggesting the syndicate remains active five years after kingpin Jitender Maan alias Gogi’s assassination in a crowded Rohini courtroom.
“The Gogi gang perceived the track as a direct insult mocking Gogi’s 2021 courtroom killing. After Gogi’s killing, Deepak Boxer took the reins and ran the gang from Mexico, but he was tracked down and brought back after a complex operation by FBI and Delhi Police in April 2023.
Balyan was allegedly a target for a music video featuring the lyrics “Bhari court me goli maarenge meri jaan” , with visual references to shooters dressed as lawyers. The ‘insult’ was further magnified by the fact that Balyan shared the same local roots as Gogi’s rival, Tillu Tajpuria,” said an investigator. The gang’s resurgence is particularly alarming given that it has suffered massive setbacks. Besides the kingpin’s killing, the other gang members have been regularly arrested in Delhi and Haryana in the past two-three years. But the cartel’s hierarchy seems to have mutated rather than collapsed. What has alarmed Delhi cops further is the apparent trigger in Balyan’s killing, which underscores the syndicate’s obsession with retribution.
The rival Tajpuria gang dealt further blows with two back-to-back killings of Gogi’s henchmen earlier this year in outer Delhi.