On Sunday night, a barrage of bullets was fired at the shuttered doors of Urban Gym on Kanganheri Road in Southwest Delhi’s Chawla area. The shooters, who are yet to be identified and arrested, were suspected to be members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, police said.How do they know this? Police said the shooting came after a member of the gang, Harry Boxer, allegedly demanded Rs 2 crore as extortion money from gym owner Harish Kumar a few days ago.Police pointed to how two prominent patterns are emerging in the city, with shootings broadly spread out in specific areas.“You have the Sultanpuri-Jahangirpuri-Outer Delhi belt, where most of these shootings are about area dominance,” said a police officer.These shootings are carried out by young gang members “inspired” by the reputation of deceased gang leaders. Juveniles are also recruited by gangs to maintain gang influence and prove themselves, police said.“And then you have the Southwest and South Delhi belt, where it’s about money and land,” the officer added.Story continues below this adIn these cases, police said, associates of prominent gangs like that of Lawrence Bishnoi and Kapil Sangwan target business owners and wealthy individuals for protection money or to settle land disputes. These attacks include firing at people or property to intimidate victims into paying.Dead gangsters, young recruitsOn March 19, a 30-year-old man, allegedly part of the Jitender Gogi gang, was killed and three others sustained injuries, as three men opened fire in Northwest Delhi’s Bawana, police said. The shooters, police said, were from Tillu Tajpuriya gang.Arch rivals, both Tillu and Gogi are dead, falling prey to their enmity.Police officers said their names are now being evoked by ‘new gangsters’ to get a head start: marking their area and becoming a “shooter of pedigree” by association with a feared gangster.Story continues below this ad“But, mostly, it’s used by old members of these gangs, who have seen their organisations lose prominence after the deaths of their larger-than-life leaders, to recruit juveniles. They keep the name of their old bosses,” a police officer said.Another aspect to the gang culture in these regions is a competition for who will be the next ‘hotshot’ juvenile, police said.Take these two shootings, for instance.On March 4, an 18-year-old was shot dead as two local gangs, with most members juveniles, clashed in Northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri.The same month, masked men decided to fire outside a house in Sultanpuri after an ‘online beef’ with the resident on Instagram.Story continues below this adBoth incidents, police said, show that petty scuffles over which group is the most ‘dangerous’ one has led to bullets being fired as a show of daring.Target on gym owners, buildersPolice claimed gym owners and builders, who deal in black money, are now being targeted by gangs. “There were only so many businessmen gangs could extort,” a police officer said. “And they can’t target the high-profile ones.”On February 20, a businessman was threatened and shots were fired at his office by associates of the Kapil Sangwan gang, which was forcing him to settle a land dispute.“Many of them receive multiple calls from each of these gangs. Who frightens them more is currency for these gangs,” the police officer said.Story continues below this adPolice said the Urban Gym owner has, in fact, received extortion calls in the past. Before Boxer, UK-based gangster Sangwan had allegedly demanded ‘protection’ money.On February 25, a lawyer associated with Lawrence Bishnoi, Deepak Khatri, saw shots being fired at his vehicle while he was in it allegedly on the instructions of Lawrence Bishnoi’s former right-hand man Rohit Godara. In a subsequent phone call, police officers said Godara allegedly threatened to eliminate Khatri’s family.Police said this also could be a possible reason for the shooting at Urban gym: that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang is not weak after its split from Godara.Overall, police said that over 65% of cases related to extortion are solved. But they admitted that the chances of improving the rate are slim, with gangsters sitting abroad making calls using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), which doesn’t need a SIM and, hence, hides their location.