The Allahabad High Court has granted bail to notorious gangster Sundar Bhati, who is serving a life sentence for the murders of Samajwadi Party leader Harendra Nagar and his gunner Bhudev Sharma.

Since his release from Sonbhadra jail, Bhati has gone underground. Sources report that he quietly boarded a flight from Varanasi to Delhi and is believed to be hiding in Haryana, with a Special Task Force (STF) team from western Uttar Pradesh actively monitoring his movements.

Bhati, recognized as one of the most influential gangsters in western Uttar Pradesh, hails from Ghanghola village in Gautam Buddh Nagar district and faces over 60 criminal cases, including murder, attempted murder, extortion, robbery, and assault.

Before his detention in Sonbhadra, authorities held Bhati at Hamirpur jail, where he reportedly connected with Sunny, one of three gunmen accused of murdering gangster Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf in Prayagraj in April 2023. Bhati allegedly recruited Sunny into his criminal network.

This connection has caused Bhati’s name to emerge in investigations related to the Atiq-Ashraf case. Some reports suggest that he supplied Zigana pistols, a semi-automatic firearm manufactured in Turkey, to the shooters involved.

After Sunny's release from Hamirpur jail, he reportedly stayed in contact with Bhati's associates and acquired a Zigana pistol through Bhati's network.

Bhati's influence has reportedly grown following the encounter killing of his rival, Anil Dujana, in May 2023, just a month after the Atiq-Ashraf murders. Following Dujana's death, Bhati appears to be trying to expand his control over the scrap business in western Uttar Pradesh.

In 2015, Bhati and his associates shot SP leader Harendra Nagar and his gunner during a wedding event in Greater Noida. In 2021, a court sentenced him to life imprisonment along with 11 accomplices for these murders.