Extortion racket in tricity: Chandigarh Police ask ED to step in

Since July 18, when the extortion racket being run by the Deepu Banur gang was busted, the cell has arrested a total of five gang members, including Deepu, who is a close aide of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, and his cousin Ravi Banur

Working to uncover the scale of the extortion racket being run by the Deepu Banur gang, the operation cell of Chandigarh Police has now asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe money laundering by the gang.

Chandigarh Police have also nominated gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s close associate Kali Shooter in the extortion case. Kali, who is lodged in Patiala jail along with Deepu, will be brought on production warrant here this week. (Getty image)

Since July 18, when the extortion racket was busted, the cell has arrested a total of five gang members, including Deepu, who is a close aide of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, and his cousin Ravi Banur.

According to police, in the last six months, Ravi had collected around ₹50 lakh from various businessmen and investigators had so far found a documentary trail of around ₹30 lakh through his bank accounts.

“Ravi used to collect monthly protection money from various gamblers and extortion money from businessmen residing or operating in Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula and other parts of Haryana. He deposited the money in the account of a close relative of Deepu. We have already established the money trail and have thus written to ED to probe money laundering,” a cop said.

Meanwhile, police have also nominated Bishnoi’s close associate Kali Shooter in the extortion case. Kali, who is lodged in Patiala jail along with Deepu, will be brought on production warrant here this week. Police have leads that Kali has been collecting money for Bishnoi.

Kali is currently in the custody of Mohali CIA police, who brought him on production warrant to investigate a weapon recovery case. Earlier, Deepu was brought to Chandigarh on production warrant from Patiala jail on July 25.

How the racket was unearthed

Through technical support, police initially got leads that both Deepu and Kali, despite being lodged in Patiala jail, were in contact with their associates in Mohali and Chandigarh, and also making threat calls to their targets, who either denied or got late in paying extortion money.

After zeroing in on the people who were in contact with Deepu and Kali, police nabbed a 22-year-old gambler who disclosed that Deepu and Kali were collecting monthly protection money from gamblers and liquor smugglers, and extorting money from traders.

Besides Deepu’s cousin, police have also arrested his muscleman Amandeep Singh, alias Mani Topi, and gang’s financier Rakesh Kania, who earlier ran a gambling circle in Bapu Dham Colony, Chandigarh, and was now operating from Nayagaon.