Yearender 2021: KBN, ‘Public Sandha’, ‘Amania Bagha’… Odisha’s ‘Video’ Gangs

Different gangs but same ‘modus operandi’: strike fear with viral videos (some guns seen in the videos were toy guns). Following are, let’s call them “video” gangs, which made headlines in 2021.

Place: Bhubaneswar

Koi Bhai Nahin (KBN)

Their fear spread through a video. Over two-dozen youths brandishing sharp weapons and a gun, driving an SUV and dancing in streets in the state capital with the music of Ram Gopal Varma’s 2010 political thriller Rakht Charitra playing in the background. The video went viral, and with it fear among residents.

Place: Cuttack

‘Public Sandha’

Like KBK, in a short video uploaded on Instagram under the name ‘Public Sandha’, some youths were seen waving a gun and a sword while hurling abuses and threats. Police picked up six persons, including a girl, for questioning. The gun in the video was fake but the sword was real. Police said the gang posted the video to garner Insta ‘likes, comments and shares’, and get even with a rival gang. The girl said the video was shot for fun and she didn’t know it would go viral.

Place: Cuttack

‘Amania Bagha’

This was a rival gang of ‘Public Sandha’.

Place: Puri

Once again, it was a viral video. In the video, a group of youths was seen beating up a boy in Puri. One youth was seen waving a sword.

Place: Malkangiri

Again, it was a viral video — of a group of youths smoking ganja and beating up a boy in Malkangiri. The video showed five-six youths gathering at a deserted and dilapidated building. They were seen smoking ganja in cigarettes. After some time, they were seen scolding a young man, encircled by them, in foul language and beating him up mercilessly with bare hands, cricket stumps and sticks.