Abu Salem associate nabbed by Noida STF

Noida: A 38-year-old man, allegedly a known associate of Mumbai serial blast mastermind Abu Salem, was arrested by the Noida unit of Uttar Pradesh’s Special Task

Noida: A 38-year-old man, allegedly a known associate of Mumbai serial blast mastermind Abu Salem, was arrested by the Noida unit of Uttar Pradesh’s Special Task Force (STF) Wednesday night from Sector 20.

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The suspect was identified as Gajendra Singh, a resident of Sector 20. His alleged accomplice, Sanjay Sharma, a resident of Greater Noida, was also arrested.

Officers of the STF said there had been tip-off about movements of known associates of Salem and Khan Mubarak, following which teams had been deployed across the state.

“We knew that Singh would invoke the names of these mafias to extort money from people on the pretext of property dealing. Following inputs, a team went to his house Wednesday around 9.30pm; Singh was found sitting in his Brezza car with a driver and Sharma. He was detained and he confessed to being associated with known criminals,” said RK Mishra, additional superintendent of police, STF.

Mishra said Singh had allegedly duped a Delhi-based businessman of Rs 1.8 crore in 2014. When asked to return the money, Singh allegedly used his connections to threaten the victim and even had him shot at in Sector 18, Noida.

“He had also duped a Noida-based man of Rs 52 lakh through a fake property agreement. Whenever his victims asked for their money, he threatened them with his connections and used them to extort money from people. He also had non-bailable warrants issued against him from the Surajpur court in 2018,” said the additional SP.

Singh was also allegedly involved in investing funds of known criminals in properties across Delhi-NCR in an effort to launder the money. The properties were then sold at a higher profit. Officers are trying to obtain details of all such transactions done through a front for illegal money.

Singh allegedly has several fake identities and bank accounts including PAN cards and other documents, the officers added.

He is a class 10 drop-out who works as a property dealer, they said. His relatives are allegedly a part of the Sunder Bhati gang as well, said the police, while Ghaziabad-based gangster Azad Bansal is his brother-in-law. He allegedly came in contact with Salem and Mubarak in 2014 through Salem’s brother, Abu Jaish and offered to continue their work in Noida.

They would allegedly dupe people on the pretext of offering them empty plots, officers said. The shooting of the Delhi-based businessman was done after purchasing vehicles and guns through laundered money, said the police.

“In 2015, a search was on Khan Mubarak by Mumbai and UP police. He was hiding at Singh’s house in Noida. Mubarak was finally nabbed in 2017 in Mirzapur. Sharma doesn’t have ties to organised crime but works for Singh as a liaison. An illegal pistol was recovered from him,” said Mishra.

Fake bank documents and mobile phones were recovered from the suspects. They were produced before a magistrate and later sent to jail.