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Bloody gang wars: Telugu don's death & the mess in Bengal, UP and Bihar

  • The thriving railway scrap trade will soon be looking for a new challenger and a leader and this could lead to more skirmishes
  • Telugu don Srinu Naidu’s death could lead to political unrest with TMC blaming BJP for the assassination
How Telugu don Srinu Naidus death could be a messy affair for Bengal

The  political scene in West Bengal is already a troubled one. There are either attacks on party workers or by party workers. It is either the Trinamul Congress which is in power and using their force to quell opposition or it is the Left wing parties trying to retaliate. Either way the state is now besieged by a series of violent clashes and attacks.  

 

Amid this is the simmering history of Telugu mafia wars in the sleepy railway town of Kharagpur. Yes, the very same place that boasts of one of the longest railway platforms in the world and an IIT. The focus of this article, however, is on the point-blank shooting of a TMC member and Telugu don  Srinivas Naidu alias Srinu and how his death could push Bengal into further deeper crisis.

 

The death was as a result of a gang war which arose out of the need to establish dominance in the illegal railway scrap trade that is a bustling business in the Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal belt. The scrap, largely iron, steel, aluminium, brass and copper, is worth crores and is sold through open bidding. This is from the skeletons remains of condemned wagons, locomotives and other railway property. The mafia thanks to its political affiliations happily goes about its business.

 

Not only this, there is also a political angle to this death. Party politics between BJP and TMC are also being considered as one of the causes. Srini Naidu was a BJP man before he defected to the TMC. Srinu’s widow Pooja Naidu is the councillor of Ward 18 in Kharagpur. She had contested the polls on a BJP ticket previously but then later on had defected and had caused the exodus of a few of the party members. It was because of the political clout enjoyed by Srinu that some are speculating that BJP’s hand could be there in this gang encounter.

 

Besides this, Srinu had enough enemies in the illegal scrap trade. His rise to power is again like one of those Bollywood film scripts which narrate how a once-favourite right-hand man of a don, grows too big for his boots and then attempts to usurp the boss. In this case as well, there was Telugu-speaking Basab Rambabu, (godfather) Srinu’s mentor and boss whom he grew to distrust and wanted to overtake in this business. Srinu is alleged to have attempted to kill Rambabu in 2011, ironically, in the same style as he was gunned down on Wednesday. His death could be a revenge for that incident.

 

Now, however, the future that West Bengal faces is uncertain. Previously also the streets of Kharagpur have witnessed brutal murders at the hands of Srinu and Rambabu. Both are extortion experts and are cold-blooded killers. The Telugu connection continues because over 2 lakh of the population in Kharagpur is Telugu speaking and has settled there under the patronage of some of these Andhra-based dons. The youth here are fiercely loyal to their godfathers and much violence can be incited at the behest of these gang rivalries.

 

Srinu was quite a dreaded name, he had to close to 40-45 charges in his name and 10 of them murder charges. It is but natural Srinu’s assailants belonged to some rival gang and old enmities will be raked up, clashes will intensify and blood will again flow freely on the streets of Bengal, until a truce or another don emerges.

 

Meanwhile, the political environment is also going to be a volatile one since Srinu enjoyed TMC patronage. Also his murder, which took place in the TMC party office, could soon assume a political angle to dislodge the party stronghold that the gangster had till now created.

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