Niraj Singh, Dhanbad: Profile, Wife, Wiki and Murder

Before the release of Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur, NDTV had shown a program named Real Gangs of Wasseypur. In that program, among others, Niraj Singh was interviewed. Niraj Singh was seen admitting that the name of the family has always been mired in controversies for criminal activities and he is trying his level best to get rid of these things.

Niraj Singh

However, neither Niraj Singh nor any other of his male extended family members tried to keep off wrong doings. The scent of money emanating through the dark lanes of Dhanbad – Jharia Coal Belt kept them hooked to crime. The political affiliation was nothing more than a desire to wear white clothes and roam among public with government securities.

Now, the Singh family has started to target their own family members. The brutal killing of Niraj Singh is a reminder of dark days that may come to Dhanbad.

The gruesome killing of Niraj Singh has again re-ignited this debate. Will Dhanbad ever be free from clutches of Singh Mansion? Niraj Singh was no more staying in Singh Mansion and had broken all relations with the family of Surya Deo Singh. However, this gangwar has more than one imprint of Singh Mansion.

Profile of Niraj Singh

Niraj Singh was born and brought up in Dhanbad. His father Mr. Rajan Singh was the brother of the renowned coal mafia Surya Deo Singh. Niraj grew up in Singh Mansion – the palatial building of Surya Deo Singh which remained the power center of Dhanbad.

After the death of Surya Deo Singh, his wife Kunti Devi and younger brother Bachcha Singh started to look after his political connections while other family members were handling the massive business interests in the coal belt along with trade union previously run of Surya Dev Singh. 

 

But, the enmity started to grow because of hyper ambitions of some of family members. Bachcha Singh and Rajan Singh were one side while Surya Dev Singh family and Ramadhir Singh were other side.

 

Niraj Singh was also quite ambitious. At a very young age, many cases were filed against him. He fought MLA election from Dhanbad as an independent and lost. Later, he became the Deputy Mayor of Dhanbad. At that time, the Mayor was Indu Devi who is the wife of Ramadhir Singh.

But, in all these equations, there is Sanjiv Singh – the son of Surya Deo Singh. Sanjiv fought 2014 Assembly Election on a BJP ticket from Jharia and comfortably won. In that very election, Niraj Singh also fought on a Congress ticket. The fight between these two scions of Singh Family had made lots of news at that time. In the end, Sanjiv Singh succeeded in retaining the seat which was with his family since long. 

Few months back, a close aide of Sanjiv Singh named Ranjay Singh was killed. Niraj Singh was suspected behind the killing. Since then, people close to Niraj were saying that there is threat to his life also. Niraj was not listening and he was quite confident that his rising profile in Dhanbad will ensure that no one will dare to touch him.

Niraj Singh was traveling by his Toyota Fortuner SUV when he was killed along with three other. As things stand today, Sanjiv Singh seems to be directly involved in this gruesome crime.

Niraj Singh was married to Poornima Singh. The couple got married in 2012 and were living in Raghukul Niwas with children along with other family members. He was quite popular among a section of people. His murder is being seen as a revival of gangwar in Dhanbad and people are fearing that many more heads may rolled down for revenge. 

 

Poornima Singh has taken a sort of political revenge by defeating the wife of Sanjiv Singh in 2019 Jharkhand Assembly Election from Jharia. 

How Niraj Singh was Killed - The Plan and Execution

Ranjan Singh had emerged as a right hand of Sanjiv Singh. With the help of Ranjay, Singh Mansion had started to get its glory back in terms of business deals and control on labor union. On 29^th May, Ranjay was killed. Obviously, the prime suspect in the case was Niraj Singh. 
 

As per police theory, some friends of Ranjay met in his ancestral village in Bihar after his funeral. One of them was Santosh, the private bodyguard of Sanjiv Singh. It was Ranjay who had brought Santosh to Singh Mansion. Ranjay elder brother Sanjay who was also an employee of Singh Mansion organized the meeting. It was decided to take revenge of the killing of Ranjay in the same manner. Obviously, they decided to eliminate the prime suspect in the case. 

Santosh Singh contacted Pankaj Singh who in turn arranged three shooters. His friend Dabloo Mishra came to Dhanbad and took a flat in Kusum Vihar with those three persons who are named as Vijay, Monu and Satish. Dabloo told old land lord that they are Medical Representatives. They stayed there for more than one month and closely watched movement of Niraj Singh. 

Few days before the execution of plan, the group thought to bring a hardcore criminal. Pankaj Singh contacted a notorious jailed criminal of UP named Rinku Singh who in turn assured him to arrange a dreaded supari killer. Pankaj promised him to give Rs. 50 lakhs. The plan was to give responsibility to that hardcore criminal to kill Niraj Singh at any cost. 

Rinku asked one of his most trusted shooter Aman Singh to do this. Aman Singh agreed instantly hearing that he will get Rs. 50 lakhs for killing Niraj Singh. He went to Dhanbad just one day before the murder. Pankaj took him to the flat in Kusum Vihar and introduced him to three other shooters. They fixed the plan and on the D – day they went to the area on two bikes. 

Aman Singh got news about Niraj Singh approaching the speed breaker on phone. There were fifteen small speed breakers and hence Niraj Singh’s Fortuner was slowed down. Instantly, as per plan, Satish fired on the driver and killed him. Since the driver was slowing down the vehicle, a bullet shot on his body ensured that the Fortuner stopped. His foot was on the brake, not on the accelerator. The first part of plan got success. At that very moment, Aman Singh came forward and started to fire indiscriminately on Niraj Singh. Satish was also firing on Niraj, but it was Aman who fired the maximum bullet. Vijay and Monu were keeping watch on the area. They also fired few shots, but their main job was to not let anyone interfere in the killing. After seven minutes, they fled away from the spot.

See Video of Niraj Singh Murder

Shooters left bikes on the National Highway and took a bus for Asansol. Pankaj Singh was waiting for him. They drank liquor in the night saw news about Niraj Singh and then left for UP.

Aman Singh, who is young and quite handsome guy, has clearly told the police that he got Rs. 50 lakhs for this supari. He is not aware about the money other three got. He had just estimated that Pankaj Singh got Rs. 3 Crores for this entire plan. 

Now the question is the source of this huge amount of money. Obviously, Sanjay Singh can’t arrange such a large money to take revenge for his brother. It can be none other than Sanjiv Singh or anyone from Singh Mansion. Further, there is clear proof that Santosh Singh, the personal bodyguard of Sanjiv, was directly involved in the plan. Santosh used to get Rs. 12, 000 monthly salary. He can’t arrange Crores of Rupees. Needless to say, every fingers point to Sanjiv Singh who is now in the Central Jail, Ranchi.

There is also no denying that they have planned meticulously. They even thought about mobile location and call records which police can later use. Still, the police was able to crack the case. The reason is simple – police worked on a simple theory that this was a revenge of Ranjay Singh murder. When they correctly thought about theory, it became easier for them to get into details. Further, these shooters left the flat without removing details. They didn’t think that the landlord will contact the police on the very next day. They made a mistake by giving their phone number to the landlord. Even if the number was new, the police was able to match the mobile location and their movement. 

And, in the end, the case was cracked because of its high profile nature. Dhanbad Police and Crime Investigation Department had to work really hard because of constant pressure from their political masters. Had it been a murder case of a general person, they would not have worked so tirelessly. More than hundred police worked on the case for around two months. Now, the police needs to substantiate this theory in the court. As of now, it seems they will be able to do so and Niraj Singh will get justice.

There is also little bit of loophole in this case. Police says that this murder was a revenge of Ranjay Singh murder. It means they are accepting the fact that Niraj Singh was involved in the murder of Ranjay Singh. In the court, this may become a complex web which police may find tough to crack.