NEW DELHI: There was an undertone of anger and resentment in Tajpur Kalan village in northwest Delhi on Tuesday. News had come in that Sunil Balyan alias Tillu Tajpuria had been murdered in Tihar Jail by his rivals in crime. And while many did not support the gangster’s ways, including his father, Jagdev Singh, they still felt the loss of a son of the village.While many would think that with Tajpuria and his archrival Jitender Gogi both dead, killed in the bitter gang war, the decade-old feud would end, the sullen faces at Tajpur Kalan, angered by what they think was an orchestrated killing, seemed to indicate no end to hostilities. In fact, one of Tajpuria’s supporters claimed this was the beginning of a new rivalry. “He was not killed outside the prison, not during a court hearing, but inside the jail. It was a cowardly attack that will be avenged,” he said.Tajpuria’s father wasn’t so vocal. Singh quietly arranged wood for his son’s funeral and greeted mourners with folded hands at his house. He spoke in a low voice into the phone to coordinate the arrival of the body from the hospital. “I never supported what he was doing,” sighed Singh. “Many lives were lost in this gang rivalry.”The father said his son hadn’t returned home since 2017. “I never met him or spoke to him after that, not even in prison,” said Singh, brushing his eyes with his gamcha. “It was his mother who went to the prison and spoke on the phone. She met him 15-20 days ago when she visited the jail with his clothes.”Tajpuria’s cousins and friends had congregated at the village. Their Instagram accounts were flooded with “I miss u bhai” posts and they had changed their profile photographs to that of the slain gangster. His childhood friends were suspicious about the jail management, accusing it of complicity in the murder. “There is a price for everything in jail, everyone can be bought. The high-risk prison has numerous security officials and it’s impossible a murder like this could take place so easily,” alleged a gang member who was recently released on bail.It was a day when people ignored Tajpuria’s notorious ways and remembered the better aspects of his character. “He had no vice, not even beedi smoking,” said one. Another claimed that Tajpuria was sensitive about who he killed and was concerned whether the target had a family or young children. “Gogi would kill indiscriminately, even someone who had simply met Tajpuria. This was not the case with Tajpuria,” insisted one villager. A close family friend declared, “What can I say about a man who took to crime only to avenge the murder of his best friend, Raju, by Gogi?”While anger simmered at Tajpur Kalan, 12km away in Alipur village, the family of Tajpuria’s bitterest foe, Gogi, remembered the gangster who was shot dead in the Rohini Courts in September 2021. At his residence, his mother and relatives got the news of Tajpuria’s death on TV. Parmeswari, Gogi’s mother, said, “My son never came home after taking to crime, only his body did. When my daughter-in-law told me about Tajpuria’s murder in jail, what could I say? I also lost my son, didn’t I?”Gogi’s older brother doesn’t leave the village owing to fears about a reprisal attack. “The cops are posted at our house every time a murder or a shootout takes place, but we always live in fear,” he said, adding, “My brother was short tempered but never condoned anyone doing something wrong.”Police and paramilitary personnel have been posted at both the houses.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/tale-of-two-villages-sense-of-wrong-at-tillu-tajpurias-home-fear-factor-at-jitender-gogis/articleshow/99945803.cms