7 years on the run: Gangster ‘Bobby Kabootar’ of Lawrence Bishnoi gang arrested by Delhi Police

Delhi Police arrested fugitive gangster Mehfooz Ali, a key member of the Bishnoi-Hashim Baba gang, linked to multiple murders over seven years.

The Delhi Police on Wednesday said they arrested fugitive gangster, Mehfooz Ali alias Bobby Kabootar, who is a key member of the Lawrence Bishnoi-Hashim Baba gang.

“Ali is infamous in Delhi’s crime world as Bobby Kabootar, a nickname he got from his neighbours because he used to raise pigeons on his house’s terrace,” said an officer. (File/HT Photo)

The 43-year-old had been evading arrest for nearly seven years in various crimes, including December’s double murder in northeast Delhi’s Jafarabad in which two brothers were shot nearly 50 times and killing of 35-year-old businessman, Nadir Shah, outside his gym in Greater Kailash-1 in 2024.

Other three accused identified as Khushnuma Ansari alias Neha,32, Mohammad Razee Khan,25, and Mohammad Shahbaz,34 were also arrested from Delhi’s Mahipalpur while they were travelling in a car late Tuesday night, police added.

While Ali, Ansari and Khan are residents of Chauhan Bangar, near Jafarabad in northeast Delhi, Shahbaz is from New Seelampur, officers said, adding that multiple firearms and ammunition were recovered from them.

“We have obtained 10 days of police custody to interrogate them regarding their involvement in crime, and to ascertain if they were in Mahipalpur to commit any heinous crime. Our focus will be on linking Ali’s alleged role in the various high-profile crimes that occurred in Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in the past four to five years,” said a senior officer.

“Ali is infamous in Delhi’s crime world as Bobby Kabootar, a nickname he got from his neighbours because he used to raise pigeons on his house’s terrace,” said the officer.

The counter-intelligence (CI) team had recently received information about Ali’s presence in Delhi. “It was learnt that Ali along with his associates would be coming to the Mahipalpur area. Accordingly, a trap was laid on Tuesday evening and they were arrested around midnight,” the officer added.

The alleged role of Ali in other high-profile crimes, including the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala in Punjab in 2022 and firing at Bollywood actor Disha Patni’s house in Bareilly last year, surfaced during the investigation.

“Ali was allegedly a part of the group that had conducted a detailed reconnaissance of the Punjabi singer’s daily life before he was shot dead in a village in Punjab’s Mansa district on May 29. On the directions of Bishnoi and Baba, Ali had also allegedly arranged firearms used in the gym owner’s killing and firing at the Bollywood actor’s house ,” the officer added.

Ali was first booked in a case of kidnapping, murder, and criminal conspiracy registered at Shahdara police station in 2006. Thereafter, he committed as many as five heinous crimes till 2014, as per his police dossier. He joined the Nasir gang of northeast Delhi of which gangster Hashim Baba was a key member. After Baba’s fallout with Nasir in 2020, Ali joined Baba’s gang and through him came in contact with Bishnoi.