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300 cops raid 21 spots in Delhi and Haryana, detain 20 over murder of BJP leader
The action comes in the wake of the murder of Surender Matiala, a BJP leader and district president of the party’s Najafgarh Kisan Morcha, on April 14.
In simultaneous raids at 21 places in Delhi and Haryana 300 police personnel from Dwarka district on Wednesday arrested six alleged criminals associated with the gang led by notorious gangster Kapil Sangwan alias Nandu, and seized a host of items ranging from guns to drugs, and cash to a bullet-proof sports utility vehicle (SUV), senior police officers said.
The action comes in the wake of the murder of Surender Matiala, a BJP leader and district president of the party’s Najafgarh Kisan Morcha, at his office in west Delhi’s Bindapur on April 14, allegedly by the members of Nandu gang. Nandu, officers said, is suspected to be in hiding in a foreign country.
“The aim of the raids was to break the backbone of Nandu’s gang and other gangsters in Dwarka and neighbouring areas. Ever since several members of Nandu’s gang were jailed, he had been desperate to assert his presence in the area and revive his gang,” said M Harsha Vardhan, deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka). “The six arrested persons were directly or indirectly associated with Nandu’s gang,” the DCP added.
The DCP said about 300 police personnel belonging to seven police stations of Dwarka were divided into 21 teams. Apart from the local police, officers involved in the raids were drawn from special staff, anti-auto theft squad, jail bail cell, anti-narcotics squad and the anti-burglary cell of Dwarka district police.
Nandu, a resident of Najafgarh, has been embroiled in a rivalry with gangster Manjeet Mahal that began in 2015 over a property dispute. While Mahal is in jail, Nandu fled abroad from where he allegedly continues operating his gang. Both gangs have joined hands with other gangs for survival as well as keeping their illegal activities such as extortion and resolving property related disputes for money.
The raids began at 4.30am and continued till 12 noon, said Vardhan, adding that 21 locations – 15 in Delhi and six in Haryana – were searched.
The DCP said that in all 20 suspects were detained, and eventually six of them formally arrested after ascertaining their criminal past or based on the recoveries made from them. Four of the arrested men – Nitin Narula, Jitender Dahiya, Nikhil and Deepak - allegedly have 11 cases against them. A fifth suspect, Rajpal Gehlot, was found in possession of 73 grams of amphetamine and a sixth person Mohit was allegedly found to be involved in the BJP leader’s murder, said the DCP.
Apart from the amphetamine, the DCP said, other seized items included three guns, seven bullets, R20 lakh cash, 22.4 grams of heroin, and a bullet-proof Toyota Fortuner that didn’t have the necessary approval from the authorities.
“Young men looking to join Nandu’s gang will now be deterred from entertaining such thoughts,” said the DCP.
MORE ARRESTS, DIFFERENT OPERATION
In another operation hours earlier, by a different police team but targeted at the same Nandu gang, led to the arrest of two suspects allegedly involved in the BJP leader’s murder.
With these two arrests, and that of Mohit in the multiple raids, the total number of suspects held for the BJP leader’s murder rose to nine. These included two minors who were part of a bunch of six persons nabbed by the Dwarka Police earlier.
HGS Dhaliwal, special commissioner of police (special cell), identified the two men arrested by the specialised unit as Rajat Yadav and Habib Ali, both 23-year-olds. Dhaliwal said that the duo was arrested based on a tip-off near Japanese Park in Rohini around 4.15pm on Tuesday.
“When confronted, the duo whipped out pistols and tried to fire at the police team, but they were overpowered and arrested following a scuffle,” said Dhaliwal.
The police said that the duo was around the murder scene that day. But it so happened that before the gang left to carry out the murder, Ali allegedly ended up shooting himself in his hand while fiddling with a gun, said the police.
“Earlier, the duo had visited Bahadurgarh Court on February 9 to eliminate Naveen Bali, but couldn’t find an opportunity. They then visited Narela the same night to kill Deepak, the cousin of Tillu Tajpuriya (who was killed in Tihar Jail on Tuesday) but failed again,” said Dhaliwal, adding that they were all through working at the behest of Nandu.
