Gang-war erupted in rural area of the district wherein a gangster Pawan Hiranwar was gunned down by rivals on Thursday. The incident occurred when Hiranwar, with his friends, all history sheeters, were on way back to city. The shootout occured at village Babulkheda under precincts of Saoner Police Station, said Superintendent of Police, Nagpur Rural, Harssh Poddar. Hiranwar’s brother, Bunty, also sustained a gunshot wound and his health details were still being gathered by the police. Poddar stated that preliminary inquiry revealed that the shootout was fallout of ongoing rivalry between Hiranwar gang and Shekhu Khan gang. Addressing mediapersons, he stated that the shootout took place around 5.30 pm. Hiranwar was acquitted of MPDA sometime back and he with his brother, Bunty and friends had gone to pay obeisance at Panchmukhi Hanuman Temple. From the details that emerged in the investigation, the rural police chief said that the role of Shekhu Khan gang was established in the murder of Hiranwar. Shekhu personally led the assault, and he along with his accomplice Parvez Khan executed the assault. Post reconstruction of event and leads gathered from sources, Poddar said, it emerged that the shooting of Hiranwar on part of Shekhu was to avenge murder of his brother.

 

Hiranwar and Shekhu gangs operate in the city and as their paths crossed, it triggered clashes to dominate the territory. While Hiranwar gang operated from Kachipura area, Shekhu was based in Ambazari Police Station area. Their area of dominance more or less converged as they are adjoining each other and Hiranwar gang murdered Shekhu’s brother a few years back in city police jurisdiction. Both Hiranwar as well as Shekhu were detained by Nagpur city police under MPDA but they were released from Central Jail sometimes back. On Thursday, Shekhu and his accomplices were riding on two-wheelers and they ambushed the four wheeler (a Citroen-MH-47/BK-0323) in which Hiranwar, his brother and three others were travelling. The spot when Shekhu’s gang ambushed Hiranwar gang is an isolated spot, a forest patch, said Poddar and former opened fire from country made guns.

 

As Shekhu Khan’s gang opened indiscriminate fire, the Hiranwar gang members ran to save themselves. However Pawan fell to gun shots on the spot while a bullet grazed past Bunty’s ear and he too was wounded. At the time of filing this report, Poddar added that police teams are still at spot. Due to darkness, it would take time to gather full details as to how many shots were fire and where the shooting involved more than two persons. He said Pawan received gun shot to his dead and the police are awaiting post mortem report to find out whether there are more bullet wounds. Meanwhile, Poddar, while replying to a querry, said that supari angle is not yet established but added that their probe is wide open. At present, the only angle that emerged in the investigation is that of Shekhu’s determination to avenge his brother’s murder. Once the offence is registered, the police would probe all angles. In the meantime, Local Crime Branch team have fanned out to trace the culprits.

 

As per reports, four to five motorcycle borne assailants carried out the sensational shootout in Saoner area. Both the gangs are from Nagpur city and Poddar said each of the gang members have multiple serious offence registered against them with various police stations of Nagpur city. Apart from Hiranwar brothers, the other occupants of the four-wheeler were Himanshu Gajbhiye, Sonu Shendre and Siddharth Kurvey. While Hiranwar was released from MPDA a month back, Shekhu was out since January 2022.