Kala Jahangir

Early life

Jahangir was born and brought up in Bogra, but when his mother moved to Dhaka to take up a better job, he joined his mother and lived with her in Ibrahimpur. Many who knew Jahangir from his childhood blamed the social environment of Ibrahimpur for the person he later became. As an area inhabited by a socially heterogeneous group of people, ranging from middle class to those who were on the lowest rung of the society, Ibrahimpur was known for harbouring dubious people and criminal activities. But there is no record that Jahangir’s childhood was marred because of the place. Instead, he was quite well known as a meritorious student in the school, having passed the school secondary certificate examinations with star marks in 1992.

Politics and Crime

Things however began to change when he went to college. Soon after his admission to Tejgaon College in 1993, Jahangir was arrested for stabbing two youths named Liton and Masum in the vicinity of the college. He was jailed for 21 days, and that changed everything. Jahangir was a thoroughly transformed person after his release from the prison. The gentle, mild spoken Jahangir became restless and dangerous, ready to attack anyone who opposed him. He quickly befriended the thugs and goons of his locality and gradually built his own "Bahini" (armed cadres), and became a top criminal of the city. Abandoned by his parents, Kala Jahangir, under the blessing of "political godfathers", entered the world of criminal activities. In 1994, Jahangir began participating in student politics at Dhaka University. He was recruited as a young cadre of the notorious Gopal Kaur gang and stayed with this gang until the end of the BNP's rule in 1996. The members of this gang used to reside in Jashimuddin Hall of Dhaka University, and it was here that another gang member, Kislu, was murdered under the leadership of Kala Jahangir. Possibly this was his first murder, but very soon he was implicated in the killing of many others, including Kiron, advocate Habib Mondol and "Murgi Milon".

Elections

When the BNP lost the national elections in 1996, Jahangir fled from the University area. He returned to fame only in 1999 with the ward commissioners’ election in the city. Enmity between the candidates came to a peak in the ward commissioners’ election, particularly in Ward No.16. A criminal who went by the name of "Killer Abbas" (also a member of the student wing of the Awami League) became a candidate and his rival - Maqsud - was none other than the brother of another known criminal, nicknamed "Top Terror Bhuiyan Babu". Sensing his immediate defeat, Abbas sought help from Kala Jahangir in the election. Babu was killed, but Abbas and Jahangir had to flee the area to save their lives.

Gang activity

Later on with the support of some other criminals Kala Jahangir created a powerful crime syndicate called the "Black Panther" and became its leader. According to some reports this group has the largest collection of illegal weapons in Bangladesh. Their main income is from contract killing and also from illegal toll collection (reportedly taking in 5 million Taka each month). Many believe that their toll collection is a well co-ordinated one and is backed by some members of the police force. It may be mentioned that in his 13 years of criminal activities he was arrested only once and that again in relation to the stabbing incident mentioned above. Although the government has announced an award of 100,000 Taka for his capture, but until now he has always succeeded in eluding the police. Nevertheless there is a rumour going on that Kala Jahangir had shot himself with his own revolver at Green Road in Dhaka city on December 15, 2003. The facts about whether he is dead or alive are still unclear. But his organisation remains intact, and fugitive gang members are believed to be operating from India.