The Jail is where one under duress has to cool his heels for confronting the law of the land. In these times of unicorns and enterprise, innovative inmates are flipping the script by launching start-ups in crime.
After all, budding outlaw entrepreneurs have come to draw inspiration from the sprawling Bishnoi Gang – a country wide extortion syndicate run from jail.
A certain David alias Bihari alias Vijay, in 2023 spending jail time in Shimla after being arrested for peddling drugs (chitta), found a lifetime opportunity to rise in the contraband business.
Alarmed by the rise in drug abuse and nudged by the government, the police in Himachal back then had launched an aggressive anti-drug or more precisely an anti-chitta campaign across the hills.
Dozens of drug peddlars were hauled up. Many of them ended up in lock-ups.
The jail population swelled. David launched his start-up.
With ample time on the balance sheet, he got down to recruiting small time peddlars and drug abusers to launch his own syndicate.
From being a petty peddler, cooling his heels in a crammed jail, to launching his own syndicate was a rise he could only dream of behind the bars.
Where else could David – the promoter cum CEO of the criminal enterprise, have come across such excellent CVs primed to run the syndicate that was a time tested venture to make quick money with global connections.
On being released from jail, the start-up in limbo took roots. The network of sleeper peddler cells, released from jails earlier, was activated and the business flourished.
So much so that the Himachal Police after breaking into the network and arresting David from Ambala and his partner Mike alias Nitesh from Zirakpur, on 12th February 2026 claimed that the duo were operating an international drug supply chain.
It took more than intelligence to arrest the drug lords.
Several arrests in and around Shimla hills over the past few months was mapped to a drug supply network being operated over WhatsApp.
The order, delivery and payment instructions were all passed through encrypted WhatsApp calls.
On pooling the data of those arrested under different police stations, the investigators found that the contraband distribution converged onto David Mike Inc. – partners in crime.
A stealth operation was launched and the history sheeter Vijay (David) and Nitesh (Mike) are back in jail, possibly honing their skills in AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Bitcoin trading to stay ahead of the police for their next start-up.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads the team of media professionals at Hill Post.
In a career spanning over two decades through all formats of journalism in Electronic, Print and Online Media, he brings with him enough experience to steer this platform. He lives in Shimla.
