From social media 'death notes' to Delhi encounter: Bihar's 'Sigma and Company' gang nears end

New Delhi: Four members of the self-styled 'Sigma & Company' gang, who were killed in a police encounter here, had not only publicised their killings on social media earlier but also circulated notes to local journalists, justifying their actions and claiming to have delivered "mrityudand" (death penalty) to their victim, officials said.

The accused, identified as gang leader Ranjan Pathak (25), Bimlesh Mahto alias Bimlesh Sahni (25), Manish Pathak (33) and Aman Thakur (21), were gunned down in a shootout with a joint team of the Delhi Police Crime Branch and Bihar Police in Rohini in the early hours of Thursday, police said.

Ranjan, who carried a cash reward of Rs 50,000 announced by Bihar Police and was described as a 'dreaded criminal', had been linked to at least five criminal cases in the past three months, including the sensational murder of former Brahmarshi Sena district chief Ram Manohar Sharma alias Ganesh Sharma (40) in Bihar's Sitamarhi district on September 26, officials said.

Following Sharma's murder, the gang issued a note on social media and circulated it among local journalists, a senior police officer told PTI.

The note, written in bold capitals, bore the title Sigma & Company with the tagline "Nyay, Seva, Sahyog" (Justice, Service, Support).

The gang listed eight alleged "crimes" of Sharma, describing him as "vishwasghati" (betrayer), "gaddar" (treacherous), tanashah (dictator), "beimaan taskar" (dishonest thief), "charitraheen" (immoral), "mahapateet" (great sinner), and "dabang" (arrogant).

The gang claimed there were 'many other reasons' behind the killing that they could not reveal and insisted that their fight was not against any caste or community but against corrupt police officers and the oppression of the poor and weak by authorities.

Declaring that the punishment for such alleged offences was death, the gang listed four points in their message, including a claim that corrupt officers had made their lives miserable and a line stating that 'those who gave Rs 11 as blessings will receive Rs 111 as a return gift.'

The note ended with the name of the gang's founder, Bharti Kapur Jha, followed by those of Ranjan Pathak and other members, the officer stated.

According to police sources, the gang had been evading arrest in Bihar and had taken shelter in Delhi. To avoid detection, they kept no SIM cards in their phones and instead used Wi-Fi hotspots from passersby to make internet-based calls through social media platforms.

This strategy helped them remain untraceable through Call Detail Records (CDR) and conventional mobile tracking methods, police said.

Investigators added that the gang was involved in multiple murder-cum-extortion cases and sought to gain notoriety on social media akin to the style of gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Rohit Godara, who are known to take responsibility publicly for violent crimes.