Patna: Horlicks, Bournvita, Makkhan and Dahi are among the Patna police’s latest headaches. Those are gangs that are very active in the city right now and the cops have stumbled upon those bizarre names while investigating recent ,.

Some of the gangs are named after their leaders – such as Horlicks Yadav, Makkhan Gope and Dahi Gope – while some of the names are meant to be clever like Bournvita that is a gang of mostly school-age youngsters involved in snatching gold chains and stealing two-wheelers.

A few of the Bournvita gang members are school dropouts and according to police officers are into crime just so that they can buy expensive gifts for their girlfriends.

Members of the Horlicks Yadav gang, which operates mainly in the areas falling under the jurisdiction of Danapur and Khagaul police stations, are involved in extortion, loot and dacoity.

Makkhan Gope of Alamganj operates in Patna City.

Patna has a history of gangsters trying to be “creative”; a couple of years ago, members of a Mines gang were arrested after they bought advertising campaigns on social networking sites to persuade people to join them.

Quizzed by the police why his gang called itself “Mines”, its leader Bittu Kumar said he just fancied the name. “It makes us different from others,” a police officer quoted Bittu as saying.

In 2013, the Patna police arrested members of the Rockers gang, Blade gang and Talwar gang for involvement in petty offences.

On their motorbike number plates, the members of the Talwar gang – which was made up of mostly upper caste members – brandished an image resembling two crossed swords ,The Telegraph reported.

Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj said earlier too, the police have come across amusing names. For instance, Chauwania (25-paise coin) and Pakauria (fried vegetable) have been troubling the city cops for quite some time.

According to the SSP, the main motive behind giving a bizarre name to a gang is to make it catchy. “It’s something like bad news spreads faster,” Maharaaj said.

A few of the criminals such as Dahi Gope (of Danapur Takia Pad) and Makkhan Gope were currently out on bail, he added.

Some criminals carry caste names: such as Rinku Halwai, Vicky Paswan, Mangal Dome, Kallu Dome and Ravi Gupta. There is also Raju Gunda in Sultanganj area of Patna City.

The SSP said that another criminal identified as Gabbar (obviously inspired by the Hindi classic Sholay) is on the radar of the Patna police.

Gabbar, a resident of Danapur Takia Pad, is involved in murder, extortion and loot.

For the record, Patna recorded 205 cases of robbery, 767 cases of house burglary and 82 cases of rape last year.