Arms supplier held for jewellery store heist of 2017

The suspect was identified as Praveen Choudhary, a native of Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. Police said he is allegedly involved in 150 cases of illegal arms and murders, and used to supply illegal arms to gangsters in Delhi, Gurugram, Rewari and Uttar Pradesh.

The special task force (STF) of Gurugram arrested a 27-year-old man, on the most-wanted list of the police, for allegedly supplying illegal firearms and ammunition to criminals in Delhi-NCR and Uttar Pradesh, the police said.

According to the police, Choudhary used to supply illegal arms to gangsters in Delhi, Gurugram, Rewari and Uttar Pradesh. (Representative image)

The suspect was identified as Praveen Choudhary, a native of Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. Police said he is allegedly involved in 150 cases of illegal arms and murders.

According to the police, Choudhary used to supply illegal arms to gangsters in Delhi, Gurugram, Rewari and Uttar Pradesh. He was out on bail in another illegal arms supply case, after being lodged in Tihar jail for six months.

Choudhary was arrested in connection with a heist in Gurugram. On June 20, 2017, he along with his two associates, had allegedly robbed a jewellery showroom in Badshahpur and fled with gold.

Sandeep Kumar, inspector, STF Gurugram, said that they received information that he was at Kailash Hospital in Jewar for his wife’s operation. She was suffering from a stomach ailment and had to get operated on Thursday. “We arrested him from the hospital on Wednesday night when he visited his wife. He was in touch with a few criminals in Uttar Pradesh and had taken an advance to deliver a cache of arms and ammunition, which he was planning to procure from Madhya Pradesh,” he said.

Kumar said that after the heist, a case was registered at the Badshahpur police station, but he was not arrested as his involvement was just identified. We had received leads in the case and arrested him on Wednesday night from Jewar in Uttar Pradesh,” said Kumar.

Kumar said that following incidents of gang wars and shootings, the police in Delhi and NCR were on the lookout for arms suppliers, including Choudhary.

“He was supplying arms to Sunder Bhati, Balraj Bhati, Anil Dujana and Neetu Dabodia, and their gang members for last several years. He had supplied over 500 pistols, revolvers and countrymade pistols to more than 100 criminals in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rewari and Gurugram, since 2013,” said Kumar.

He was involved in several cases of robbery across the NCR, including Gurugram, the police said.

Police said he was also involved in a shoot-out in May 2013, when he had allegedly shot dead an under-trial, Hoshiar Singh, at the Aligarh court. Choudhary is a history-sheeter and has been jailed more than seven times since 2013, the police said.

Kumar said he was produced before the district and sessions court on Thursday and taken on police remand for three days.

“We will interrogate him and take details of all the cases he was involved in. Raids will be conducted based on the information he gives to arrest the people associated with him. We need details of the buyers and also those who supplied him the arms and ammunition,” said Kumar.

The Gurugram police are working with their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to ascertain the cases he is involved in.