Tale of three crime families of Pune - Taak, Dudhani, Kalyani: 31 members and 1,100 cases - Hindustan Times
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Tale of three crime families of Pune - Taak, Dudhani, Kalyani: 31 members and 1,100 cases

ByShalaka Shinde
Feb 05, 2021 04:45 PM IST

Advocate Aslam Sayyed, who represents most of these men from all three families in the court, pointed out that the family members do not deny their involvement in most of the crimes

The residential area under the water tank in Ramtekdi area of Pune looks like any other colony of shanties; close knit houses and small shops. That is the case in Vaiduwadi area of Hadapsar. What makes these places stand apart are some of the residents of these areas. At least 30 members of these three families, collectively, have a record of over 1,000 cases against them, as per the records maintained by the Pune city police.

Creative abstract cyber crime, online piracy and internet web hacking concept: 3D render illustration of the macro view of metal handcuffs and wooden judge mallet, gavel or hammer on laptop notebook computer keyboard with selective focus effect (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Creative abstract cyber crime, online piracy and internet web hacking concept: 3D render illustration of the macro view of metal handcuffs and wooden judge mallet, gavel or hammer on laptop notebook computer keyboard with selective focus effect (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

These two spots are known residential areas of members of three crime families that have earned a spot in the special books of the Pune police - Taak, Dudhani, and Kalyani.

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The family trio has makings of a multiple part series on an OTT platform - inter-familial rivalries, murder, theft, legacies, and ways of avoiding arrest.

Every few months a press statement is issued by either the Pune city of Pimpri-Chinchwad police of some of the people from one or more of the three families getting arrested as a result of which multiple cases of vehicle theft and house break-in thefts are detected. Some names get repeated often, month-after-month, while new names get added every once in a while. Which begs the questions - how many of them are there? and why do they manage to evade longer jail time?

The question is answered partially by the type of crimes that they commit as pointed out by Krishna Prakash, commissioner of Pimpri-Chinchwad police in a recent press briefing.

“The crimes they commit are not considered as serious crimes in the court. Therefore, once the police custody is over, they make bail and go back to their old ways,” he said.

Shedding light on their activities in Pune city, Bachchan Singh, deputy commissioner of police, crime, Pune said, “We have many sikalgaris who habitually commit house break-in thefts in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, some of them having more than 40-50 cases too. Crime branch as well as police stations have made many successful detections in which sikalgaris were involved and a regular surveillance is kept on them. Stringent preventive action is under progress against habitual offenders.”

Of the 33 people on the radar of Pune police, at least 12 have a record of over 50 cases against them. In a seemingly disproportionate statistic recorded by the Pune police, a 19-year-old has 91 cases registered against him. The 19-year-old, however, was killed in a fight among the youngsters of two families -Taak and Kalyani.

As per the police record of the case, Paitarsingh Taak (19) was killed as a fallout of a fight that his brother Tilaksingh Taak (28) has with Vickysingh Kalyani (25). Tilaksingh had broken an arm of Vickysingh in a fight as a result of which, he was arrested, during which time, Vickysingh and three others hacked Paitarsingh to death on the night of July 23, 2020.

Advocate Aslam Sayyed, who represents most of these men from all three families in the court, pointed out that the family members do not deny their involvement in most of the crimes.

“This is how they make a living. They do not deny it. But they are falsely implicated in some of the cases definitely. Once marked as a criminal, it is difficult to get that tag off. And it is not like they want to either. They do have small businesses like fabrication, blacksmith, earth movers and pig-rearing. But those are not their main source of income,” said Advocate Sayyed.

The Taak family is headed by siblings Ballusingh (30) and Ujalasingh (24) while the Kalyani family is headed by siblings Baitusingh alias Karansingh (24) and Ravisingh (22) and the Dudhani family is headed by Papasingh alias Charansingh (42), according to their lawyer.

Some of the most notorious names in the list of those alive are Lakhansingh Rajputsingh Dudhani (36) a resident of Ramtekdi area of Hadapsar, who has a history of 81 cases. One of the youngest adults in the list of 11 living members of the three families who has over 50 cases against them is Sunnysingh Papasingh Dudhani (21) a resident of Birajdarnagar in Mopedvasti in Ramtekdi who has a history of 57 cases and is currently in the custody of Pune police in a series of house-theft cases.

Pimpri-Chinchwad police arrested two lesser-known members of the Taak family, Surjeetsingh Rajpalsingh Taak (35) and Jeetsingh alias Jeetu Rajpalsingh Taak (24), both residents of Birajdarnagar in Vaiduwadi, Hadapsar, in another case after which a recovery of cars and stolen valuables collectively worth 30 lakh was made.

The backdated list of crimes against these men is long and their allies including jewellers who are located outside of Pune and buy stolen precious metals from them are fixed, according to well-placed sources. The multiple off-springs are carrying forward the legacy of their elders with each crime they commit and each case they are falsely implicated in.

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