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| Kathmandu, Sunday December 28, 2003 Paush 13, 2060. |
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Turf rivalry sees gang wars take menacing
proportions
BY BIKASH SANGRAULA
KATHMANDU, Dec 27 - This Christmas Eve, a gang of ten
attacked dreaded criminal kingpin Milan Gurung (Chakre) with khukuris at the parking lot
of Hyatt Regency. Gurung received serious injuries on his head. On Friday, police arrested
Deepak Manange, leader of a rival gang, after Gurung alleged that he masterminded the
attack. Police took a 10-day remand order for Manange from Chief District Office on Friday
and are preparing to charge him for public offence.
"This incident laid bare the degree of violence to which
criminal gangs in Kathmandu are willing to go to maintain their domination in people’s
psyche," said Superintendent of Police Binod Singh of Crime Investigation Branch,
Hanuman Dhoka.In fact, this is the second incident within a year when a known don has been
involved in violence of this scale. On January 2003, another Valley don, Raju Gorkhali,
hacked to death Rakesh Limbu in Royal Discotheque, Durbar Marg, which Gorkhali owned.
Limbu was one of the co-owners of Babylon Disco in Sundhara, which led police to suspect
that the murder might have been triggered by business rivalry. Almost a year down the
line, Gorkhali is still at large.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police Deg Bahadur GC,
these gangsters sell gun and muscle favour for settling family and financial feuds,
contract disputes and personal vengeance.
Manange operates Club Dynasty in Durbar Marg and also runs
several restaurants in the city. Meanwhile, Gurung is not known to own any legitimate
business. Like Manange, his involvement in influencing decisions in awarding construction
contracts, brokering big financial transactions as well as collecting octroi in various
entries is common knowledge. In some cases, they are reported to have threatened
government officials into awarding lucrative construction contracts to their clients. Both
Manange and Gurung are multi-millionaires, with lavish lifestyles and expensive habits.
"Manange has godfathers in Ratriya Prajatantra Party,
while Gurung has blessings of the UML," said a senior police official, requesting
anonymity. Not surprisingly, on November 21, 2003, Manange was photographed escorting RPP
Chairperson Pashupati Shumshere Rana to the latter’s vehicle outside the party office
in Kamal Pokhari. Political parties apparently use the gangsters to create favourable
public opinion about them, especially during elections.Similarly, the powerful connections
of Milan Gurung became public when he was left unscathed by police even after he
mistreated Dr Rajeev Shahi, a member of the Royal family a few years ago. "He then
disappeared for a few months and then resurfaced, holding his head as high as ever,"
said a police source.
Police officials conceded that the graduation of erstwhile
small time hooligans into feared dons is the result of people’s dwindling faith in
the cumbersome police and legal processes. "Granted that police and legal processes
take time and patience. Nonetheless, if people continue seeking street-level justice,
gangsters will grow in stature and that means that civilians will continue to bow down to
their threats," said SP Singh.Going by past records, there is only a flimsy chance
that Manange would face punishment for the latest offence. In fact, Manange as well as
Gurung have escaped justice several times in the past despite multiple cases of public
offence filed against them. Most of the times, cases were never filed owing to their
threats. If a civilian did gather the courage, the dons went underground till the case was
closed or used their connections to tilt decisions in their favour.
Gurung is recovering at Teaching Hospital and will soon be
fit to deal his blow. Meanwhile, whether Manange receives legal punishment or becomes a
target of Gurung is a question worth pondering over.
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