Jammu Murder: Khauff Gang Claims Responsibility; Victim’s Family Denies Gang Links

The daylight murder case in Jammu yesterday has sent shockwaves through the community. The Vijaypur region has closed its businesses today to mourn Jandyal’s death.

Jammu:Hours after 37-year-old Sumit Jandyal of the Vijaypur area of Samba district, was shot dead in broad daylight in the heart of Jammu city yesterday, the Khauff gang claimed responsibility.

In a post on its Instagram page “khauff_group”, the gang claiming responsibility wrote, “What happened in Jewel Chowk, our two brothers Anil Rajee and Bunty Rajee take the responsibility for that. This was the revenge for killing our brother Shunu.”

However, the family members and relatives of the deceased refuted the allegations of any gang affiliation, asserting that Jandyal was a well-regarded personality in his community. “Whatever the ADGP said about it being a gang war is wrong, we condemn it. There is no Gataru gang in our area. Rather Sumit had a childhood nickname of Gataru, and terming him a gangster is baseless,” a friend of Jandyal told media persons outside the mortuary of Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu.

He further claimed that Shunu was killed during police firing in April last year in GMC Kathua when police had laid a trap to nab Khauff group members and Jandyal was in no way involved in it. A police sub-inspector Deepak Sharma was also killed in the incident as well.

Police are now investigating the gruesome murder of Jandyal, with social media abuzz with a picture of three youths riding a scooty, allegedly involved in the case. However, police have not issued any statement regarding their identities or involvement.

Jammu has a long history of gang war, and in recent times, border areas of Jammu district, as well as some areas of Samba and Kathua districts, have remained in the news for the wrong reasons. Binny and Chota Riyaz were active criminals in the 1980s, but there was a lull between then and 2006. Mohanjeer killed a criminal known as Bakra in 2006, later he was killed in the Mohali district of Punjab. Now, the Khauff group is regarded as the most active gang in Jammu.

Sources said that the two names mentioned in the Instagram post are actually from the Ranbir Singh Pura area of Jammu district, and the group has links outside Jammu and Kashmir as well.

During the investigation into SI Deepak Sharma’s murder, authorities discovered that, in addition to receiving money from local sources for purchasing and selling land, the organisation has formed contacts with drug mafias outside J&K, and they may be profiting from this illicit trade as well.

People in Jammu are shocked by the occurrence, while traders in the Vijaypur region have closed their businesses today to mourn Sumit Jandyal’s murder.