“I often requested my husband to stop this rivalry (with another Patratu gang). But, he did not pay heed. Now, I will have to spend my life alone,” Nishi, 28-year-old widow (in picture top) of alleged extortionist Pandey, cried in Jamshedpur on Thursday, a day after her husband and his friend were murdered. The couple’s Vijaya Heritage duplex in Kadma. Pictures by Animesh Sengupta

Bullets whizzed at crowded a Kadma market in Jamshedpur last evening, killing an allegedly well known extortionist and his friend and training the spotlight on why the industrial belt is a soft target for criminals.

Kishore Pandey (38) of Patratu in Ramgarh, who apparently terrorised coal traders to shell out money, and his friend Bablu Singh (37), each sustained four bullets fired by bike-borne assailants. Pandey took three on his chest and one on the neck, Singh two on the chest, one on his head and another on the abdomen. Deaths were instantaneous.

Pandey’s bodyguard, Suman Singh (32), who was with the duo, sustained a bullet wound on his right leg and is recovering at Tata Main Hospital.

So far, no arrests have been made. But, the police are focusing on Pandey’s credentials to figure out who could have wanted him dead.

So far, facts that have emerged are a jigsaw of Pandey’s various facets.

Pandey operated out of Patratu, Khelari and Ramgarh and was involved in over 50 criminal cases, including murder. In Jamshedpur, he presented a normal, family man image, as the owner of a duplex at the posh Vijaya Heritage apartments in Kadma, and where his young wife Nishi and two children Bobby and Piyu stayed.

The police are not yet sure if Pandey’s regular trips to the city were to only meet his family or if he had links with local criminals. But, a source claimed he kept his family in an upper-class neighbourhood in Jamshedpur because it was a safe hideout.

“A seasoned criminal has rivalry with other gangs in his area. Pandey would not have exposed his family to the threat,” the source said.

The man added that Pandey “had a lot of enemies in Patratu and Hazaribagh as he ran an extortion gang”.

SSP Amol V. Homkar agreed with the enmity theory. He told The Telegraph that Pandey’s murder was linked to his rivalry with one Sushil Srivastava, who operated from Patratu and Ramgarh.

“He must have been killed by the Sushil Srivastava gang. We don’t see any ransom angle in the alleged extortionist’s murder,” he said.

City SP Karthik S. said that prima facie the murder seemed to be the fall-out of gang war. “However, we are investigating the case from other angles,” he added.

Kadma OC, inspector B.K. Chaturvedi and the investigating officer of the case, said it was not clear if local sharp-shooters were involved or if gangsters from Patratu had trailed Pandey to Jamshedpur.

An alleged extortionist getting murdered in Jamshedpur is new for a city where industrialists routinely fall prey to extortionists.

Sreeleathers shoe baron Ashish Dey, known to never entertain extortion demands as a matter of principle, was killed on November 2, 2007. Industrialist Ajay Singh was kidnapped from Jamshedpur and subsequently released after reportedly shelling out a hefty sum in 2005. Oil mill owner Vikas Debuka was shot dead at his unit in Mango in 2004 after he refused to pay ransom to a criminal gang.

Among home-bred extortionists, English-speaking gangster Akhilesh Singh, nabbed from a Noida mall in December 2011, stands out. The gangster, who ran a crime syndicate and pumped funds from extortion into real estate in his heyday, is accused in over two dozen cases of grievous nature, the most prominent being Dey’s murder.

City SP Karthik explains why Jamshedpur is a hotspot for economic crimes, including extortion. “Jamshedpur is Jharkhand’s economic capital. Cash transactions here are done on a much bigger scale than Ranchi and Dhanbad.”

A senior functionary of a trade outfit who did not want to come on quote said crime gangs knew whom to target.

“The problem is compounded as the police is not that active in controlling this menace,” he said. “In Ranchi, extortion is less as the state cabinet sits there and any crime becomes a big issue.”