NEW DELHI: The skinny would-be kingpin and his fearless bike gang were seemingly everywhere.

When someone was shot or robbed in this city of 16 million, where murder is relatively rare, police pointed to the same suspect: Bunty, the notorious gang leader who terrorized New Delhi from astride a motorcycle.

Bunty’s reign ended Monday when he died in a pre-dawn shootout with police. Authorities trumpeted the news as a hard-fought victory over the city’s most wanted man, held responsible for stabbings, shootings, robberies and more.

“It’s almost like he’s a quasi-mythical figure,” said Santosh Desai, a media critic and Times of India columnist.

India has a long history of celebrating bandits as folk heroes and their legends often reflect the society they stalk.

With a youthful nickname, a passion for flashy motorcycles, and an ambition to rise high, Bunty – whose real name was Om Prakash – was a criminal for the new India.

A generation ago, the ubiquitous vehicles crowding Indian streets were clunky Ambassadors, cars which never won any style contests. The loosening of the economy in 1991 brought a flood of foreign vehicles – including the motorcycles favoured by Bunty.

His exploits were straight out of the motorcycle robbery film Dhoom and its sequel, perhaps lending a patina of Bollywood glitz to his thuggery.

Police said he roamed the streets, forcing motorcyclists to part with their wallets and their bikes, quick to shoot those who hesitated. He harboured dreams of rising above street robberies and becoming a crime boss.

Authorities said they recovered true crime magazines at his hideout, as well as clippings he kept about himself, English-language exercise books, a telephone directory written in code, and a cache of guns.

“He wanted to become an English-speaking don,” said senior police official H.G.S. Dhaliwal, according to the Press Trust of India. “He was ambitious and street-smart.”—AP