12 of interstate criminals’ alliance held in Delhi Police raids

Police said the arrested criminals were behind sensational organised crimes, including the murder of an international kabbadi player in Punjab, and other gruesome crimes across Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and UP.

The Delhi police on Tuesday said they have busted a dangerous multi-state criminal alliance making inroads into Delhi and arrested a dozen criminals part of three gangs run by gangsters Lucky Patial, Bambiha and Kaushal and carrying rewards up to ₹1.5 lakh from different states for their capture.

The accused were arrested in raids carried out over a period of five days, after months of surveillance across five states. (Sourced)

Police said the arrested criminals were behind sensational organised crimes, including the murder of an international kabbadi player in Punjab, and other gruesome crimes across Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. Investigators claim the alliance had partnered with local gangsters in Delhi like Sunil Maan alias Tillu Tajpuriya and Neeraj Bawana to start operation in the Capital.

Police identified the criminals as Sajjan alias Bholu (37), a resident Jhajjar in Haryana; Anil alias Latth (32), resident of Delhi’s Kakrola; Ajay alias Sunny alias Lefty (20), from Haryana’s Kurukshetra; Tekchand (30), from Faridabad; Rahul alias Sadhu (24), from UP’s Jaunpur; Sachin alias Gachnu (25), from Gurugram; Kavinder alias Shakti Rana (22), from Karnal; Saurabh Mishra alias Mogli (23), originally from Bihar’s Sasaram; and Palwal residents Dayachand (30), Kailash Dagar (29); Sandeep Dagar (24) and Gulshan (26).

Some of the accused were involved in high-profile murders in the past -- including political murders -- and were carrying rewards up to ₹1.5 lakh from different states. They were arrested in raids carried out over a period of five days, after months of surveillance across five states.

Noting that the arrests were part of the Delhi Police’s “Proactive, Pre-emptive, Preventive (3-P)” operation, Neeraj Thakur, the special commissioner of police (special cell), said, “This infamous alliance had started looking towards Delhi in a bid to expand its zone of influence, especially after relentless action from Delhi Police over the recent past had seen either the elimination or arrest of every significant local criminal. The void thus created was first sought to be exploited by the alliance between Lawrence Bishnoi, Sandeep alias Kala Jathedi, Virender Pratap alias Kala Rana and Sube Gurjar. Over the past nine months, this alliance has been effectively contained and neutralised with the arrests of Jathedi and Rana and a score of their shooters by various units of Delhi Police. Most of the leading criminals of this alliance are presently lodged in various jails and are subject to investigation and prosecution under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), 1999.”

He further said the arrests of these criminals created a window of opportunity for gangsters Lucky Patial, Bambiha and Kaushal alliance, to form another deadly alliance.

“It was facilitated by Tajpuriya and Bawana, who are already behind bars. The sensational courtroom murder of Tajpuriya’s archrival, Jitendra Gogi, displayed the criminal depth of this emerging syndicate. The investigation into this sensational crime, conducted by the crime branch, implicated Kaushal, amongothers, who were formally arrested in the matter,” the Special CP said.

Thakur also said that the alliance, after eliminating Gogi, turned its attention towards Punjab and executed the murder of an international Kabaddi player and UK resident Sandeep Singh Sidhu on March 14 this year in Mallian Khurd near Jalalandar in Punjab.

“In this case also, accused Kaushal, apart from others, were subsequently formally arrested by Punjab Police for conspiracy, indicating that these criminals were eyeing the lucrative kabbadi tournaments and music industry in Delhi, like Punjab. The Punjab murder further reinforced our belief that it was absolutely necessary that criminals of the alliance, who are on the run from law, be profiled, mapped, identified and brought to book before they could make another attempt at shattering the peace and security of the national capital,” he said.

The Special CP also said that investigations by various agencies revealed that the communications among this alliance functioned through a hub-and-spoke model. “With all the hubs settled offshore, in foreign lands, there was minimal communication of any type between the roaming criminals. Intensive analytics led to the deciphering of multiple foreign-based communication and coordination hubs located in countries like United Kingdom, Canada, US, Thailand, Malaysia, Armenia and other countries, who were acting as handlers of criminals on the loose,” he said.

Months of exercise led the police counter intelligence unit to filter out suspected bases at Bengaluru in Karnataka, Nasik in Maharashtra, Zirakpur in Punjab’s Mohali, Faridabad in Haryana, Baddi in Himachal Pradesh as well as certain locations in Delhi. Police said over 40 personnel were deployed for covert surveillance at these locations for months.

Police said once the identities were confirmed, police conducted raids under the leadership of the ACP and inspectors.