Rupinder Gandhi

Some Lesser Known Facts About Rupinder Gandhi

• Rupinder’s father named him ‘Rupinder Gandhi’ as he was born on 2 October.

• During his school days, he was good at academics and sports. He participated in football at the national level.

• After pursuing his schooling, Rupinder enrolled himself in a course at Panjab University, where he entered student politics. He once served as the President of the student organisation Panjab University Students Union (PUSU), Chandigarh.

  

• Later, he formed his party Gandhi Group of Student Union (GGSU) party. At one point, more than 3 lakh students were associated with the Gandhi Group of Students Union (GGSU) in the universities and colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh.

• Rupinder Gandhi was considered a youth icon in Punjab. While the people of his village considered him a very helpful and humble person, the people outside his village believed him to be a dreaded gangster.

  

• At the age of 22, Rupinder became the sarpanch of his village.

• Although Rupinder was never seen with weapons in his village, many people revealed that they were so afraid of him that they never dared to stand against him in elections.

• He got many poor girls from his village married. He also provided for medicines to the poor and needy and education to underprivileged children.

• After becoming the Sarpanch of his village, Rupinder Gandhi used to solve the conflicts with violence.

• Slowly, he began getting involved into fights, which soon turned into gang wars. Many criminal cases including murder, assault, and possession of illegal weapons were registered against him in Chandigarh and Punjab.

• After police began searching for him, Rupinder moved back to his village and made his hideout there.

• On 5 September 2003, at around 8:30 am, Rupinder was returning to his village with his friend Harpreet Singh on a scooter. While Rupinder was riding the scooter, Harpreet was sitting in the back seat. While they were on Samrala Road, a car began chasing them and crashed into their scooter. The people sitting inside the car also fired some bullets in the air. Some men then got down the car and abducted Rupinder.

• Four days later, on 9 September 2003, his body was found hanging from a tree near the Bhakra Canal. In the post-mortem, it was revealed that the bones of his arms and legs were broken and he had 2 bullet marks on his body.

• A case of kidnapping and murder was registered against 11 people in the Khanna Sadar police station; with an accused named Lakhi being the main culprit.

• At the time of his murder, he had around 8 criminal cases registered against him.

• To avoid any violence, the police decided to keep the information about his funeral a secret and only his family members were allowed to attend his last rites.

• After Rupinder’s death, his brother claimed that Rupinder was not a gangster, he was innocent and often fought with people only for the welfare of the society.

• In 2007, Rupinder’s brother avenged Gandhi’s death by shooting Lakhi, the main accused in Rupinder Gandhi’s murder.

• On 20 August 2017, at around 7:30 am, when Rupinder’s brother Manvinder Singh was working on his farm along with his nephew, two masked men came there and fired bullets at Manvinder, resulting in his death. The attackers fled the place with Manvinder’s Bullet motorcycle. They were later arrested by the police.

• In 2015, a Punjabi film based on Rupinder Gandhi’s life titled Rupinder Gandhi – The Gangster..? was released in theatres. Later, a sequel and threequel of the film were also released. In the film, the Punjabi actor Dev Kharoud played the role of Rupinder Gandhi.

  

• Many people of his village, consider him a role model. Many cricket and football tournaments are organised in his name in his village every year as a mark of respect.