U'khand: Gangster dies of gunshot wounds; family alleges police connivance to grab property

Haridwar, Dec 27 (PTI) Gangster Vinay Tyagi succumbed to bullet wounds here in a hospital on Saturday, three days after he was shot at while being taken to a court by the police, authorities said.

His family accused the police of being complicit in his killing and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the death.

Police said Tyagi was being taken from Roorkee jail to Laksar court for a hearing on Wednesday, when two bikers allegedly opened fire at the police vehicle near the Laksar flyover, and shot Tyagi.

Two policemen were also injured in the shootout, they said.

According to the police, Tyagi, a member of the notorious Sunil Rathi gang, sustained three bullet wounds and was admitted to the AIIMS-Rishikesh in a critical condition, and died Saturday morning.

Police arrested both attackers on Thursday and extracted a confession, according to which they killed Tyagi out of a personal rivalry.

Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police Pramendra Singh Dobhal identified the attackers as Sunny Yadav and Ajay and said they both have been booked for murder after Tyagi's death.

Tyagi's sister, Seema Tyagi, present at AIIMS-Rishikesh, alleged that his death was due to deliberate negligence in treatment to suppress the "truth." Seema said that her sister-in-law's life is also in danger and demanded that their family be provided security and a CBI inquiry be conducted into the entire matter.

She said Tyagi, while he was in the hospital, had expressed suspicions of a conspiracy and alleged police complicity in the affair.

She said he named a doctor and a prominent contractor from Dehradun, accusing them of hatching the conspiracy to seize his properties worth crores.

"First, these two sent Vinay to jail on false charges. After that, they held Vinay's wife hostage for two days and released her only after forcing her to transfer the ownership of land worth crores of rupees to their names," Seema told reporters.

The Tyagi Mahasabha also termed the gangster's death suspicious and said it was a murder committed with the connivance of the police.

Praveen Tyagi, an office-bearer of the Mahasabha, alleged, "The police got the criminals to kill Tyagi to avoid a police encounter." Vinay Tyagi, a native of Khaikhedi village in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh, had a long criminal history, with alleged involvement in 57 serious criminal cases, including murder, attempted murder, extortion, robbery, theft, and fraud, filed in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

His wife has been the head of the Purkazi block in UP's Muzaffarnagar district twice, and once contested election as an Independent candidate from the state's Deoband Assembly constituency.

Sources familiar with the matter said that Tyagi had amassed immense wealth from criminal proceeds, and he owned benami properties worth crores in Delhi, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, and other places.

According to the police investigation, one of the two criminals who allegedly shot Vinay Tyagi in Laksar, Sunny Yadav, earlier worked for him.

Yadav is a murder convict and was out on parole at the time of the shooting. PTI DPT VN VN