Cops: Fugitive gangster linked to extortion calls in Delhi
At least three businessmen in the city have received threatening calls and messages in the last 10 days.
After laying low for nearly a month following the killing of its three key operatives in an encounter, including two who were involved in the June Burger King shooting, the Himanshu Bhau gang infamous for extortion has seemingly resumed harassing people.
At least three businessmen in the city have received threatening calls and messages in the last 10 days purportedly from the gang’s namesake fugitive leader for paying extortion money, police officers aware of the matter said.
Two separate cases of extortion and criminal intimidation have been registered at the Mangolpuri and Dwarka North police stations in outer and southwest police districts on the basis of complaints of two of the three businessmen.
The third businessman, who happens to be the neighbour of one of the complainants from Pitampura, has not approached the police, even as he had been receiving extortion calls from the Bhau gang for the past some days, said one of the officers, posted in the special cell, asking not to be named.
“The complainant from Pitampura received multiple extortion messages from an unknown number. The sender identified himself as Himanshu Bhau, who is suspected to be hiding in Portugal, and threatened the victim of the repeat of the Burger King shooting. In the messages, the sender mentioned the name of the complainant’s neighbour and threatened that one of them would pay the money while the other would face the consequences. The neighbour has not lodged any complaint yet,” the officer said.
“After the killings of Ashish, Vikas and Sunny, extortion calls and messages from the Bhau gang nearly stopped for almost a month,” said another senior special cell officer, but added that such threats did not stop as another gang, led by fugitive gangster, Kapil Sangwan alias Nandu, took it as an opportunity to expand their illegal extortion business.
The infamous Lawrence Bishnoi gang, led by its namesake jailed gangster, also grabbed the opportunity — his on-the-run brother Anmol Bishnoi has reportedly been making extortion calls to businessmen too, police said. At least one such extortion case involving Anmol, who is suspected to be based in the United States, has been registered in the past three days.
“Even as the three cases are being investigated by the concerned district police, the special cell and crime branch units that specialise in probing cases related to gangsters have also taken up the probe,” added the officer.
Extortion trend
On an average, at least one extortion case was registered every second day in Delhi, police data shows —till August 15 this year, 133 first information reports (FIRs) were registered.
During the corresponding period last year, the city police had registered 141 extortion cases. In 2022, the number of reported extortion cases was 110.
However, officers say that the actual number of extortions in Delhi is much higher than the cases registered, as many victims never approach police for help out of fear for their and their family members’ lives.
“Many of these extortion cases had the involvement of some key gangs such as Bhau gang, Nandu gang, Lawrence Bishnoi gang, Jitender Gogi gang, Tillu Tajpuriya gang, and Hashim Baba gang,” said a crime branch officer, asking not to be named.
The officer, who mostly probes extortion cases related to fugitive and jailed gangsters, said that such cases are difficult to crack because the calls are mostly made from foreign countries using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and encrypted mobile application having calling and messaging facilities.
The rising number of such cases of extortion was also discussed during the latest interstate coordination meeting of various states police forces that was organised at the Delhi Police headquarters before Independence Day celebrations, officers said.