Who is Tillu Tajpuriya, gangster killed in Tihar jail, who headed his gang for over a decade?

Gangster Tillu Tajpuriya, who was killed by four assailants in Tihar Jail on Tuesday, was involved in over 11 criminal cases in Delhi and Haryana that included the 2021 Rohini court shootout in which gangster Jitender Gogi was gunned down.

Tillu, a resident of Tajpur Kalan village, studied up to Class 10.

He headed his Tillu gang for over a decade and had contacts with some notorious gangsters like Neeraj Bawania, Sunil Bali and Chhenu, police said.

Police officials in the past claimed that Tillu managed to run his gang from inside jail.

He was in jail since 2016, when he was arrested by SIT, Sonipat in Haryana, along with his associate Vikas alias Vicky Kansaliya.

He is survived by his father, who was retired from the MCD, and three siblings.

Tillu was convicted for life in the murder case of Niranjan Master in Sonipat, Haryana. The Delhi Police’s Special Cell had also booked him under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), officials said.

It was revealed that Tillu had played an important role in the murder of Jitender Gogi. He was interrogated in judicial custody and had confessed to the crime, following which he was arrested in the case, they said.

Sunil Baliyan alias Tillu Tajpuriya was killed early Tuesday inside Tihar Jail allegedly by four members of the notorious Gogi gang who cut two iron grilles of the high-security prison and stabbed him "40-50 times" with an improvised weapon, officials said.

Tillu's main rival was Gogi, and the two committed "sensational" crimes. Their gangs clashed on various occasions for dominance, and as a result several incidents of murders took place, police said.

According to the officials, the fierce rivalry between the two gangsters has claimed lives of over 30 members of their gangs.

Citing past incidents, police said on June 18, 2018, in Sant Nagar area of Burari, Gogi's gang clashed with members of the Tillu gang in which four people died.

After Gogi was killed, Deepak "Boxer" headed the gang. In April, the Delhi Police's Special Cell arrested "Boxer" from Mexico with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

However, before turning rivals, both Tillu and Gogi were friends but their friendship turned into rivalry during a student union election at Delhi’s Swami Shraddhanand College in 2010.

Even though the two did not contest election individually, they supported candidates of different parties and reportedly provided them with muscle power. Later, they went on to form their own gangs, the officials said.