Delhi: Two gangsters arrested for firing in a factory at Bawana and extortion

Interrogation of the arrested men revealed that the firing and extortion demand conspiracy was executed on the instructions of gangster Sonu Dariyapur through his key aide Sumit alias Palotra, who is lodged in Mandoli jail

Two members of a gang led by jailed gangster, Sonu Dariyapur, have been arrested by the crime branch for allegedly firing bullets in a plastic machineries manufacturing factory at outer Delhi’s Pooth Khurd in Bawana, and demanding ₹50 lakh as “protection money” from its owners, police said on Sunday.

On October 26, the two men reached a plastic machineries manufacturing factory at outer Delhi’s Bawana , entered the premises and fired two bullets at the roof (Representative photo/Shutterstock)

On October 26, the two men reached the Neelgiri Machinery, entered the premises and fired two bullets at the roof, gave a slip to one of the workers in the factory and asked him to give it to his employers. The note, written in Hindi, read that the assailants belonged to Sonu Dariyapur gang and demanded ₹50 lakh, the police said.

“I had left the factory just 15 minutes before the firing. The two assailants fired bullets inside the factory and gave the extortion demand to my employee, Varun. I filed a police complaint and sought police protection. The local police have deployed a police van outside my factory after the incident. I had not received any extortion call from this gang. Around a year and half ago, members of Kallu Khera gang demanded ₹1 crore extortion money. Some people were arrested in that case,” said Mukesh Goel, one of the two owners of the factory.

Joint commissioner of police (crime) Alok Kumar said that a case of extortion and firing was registered at Bawana police station and the crime branch team was also tasked to solve the case. The team examined all evidence including the CCTV footage of the firing incident.

“Our team developed information and learnt that two members of Sonu Dariyapur gang, Roshan alias Sumit Sahni,20, and Ankit Dabas,20, were involved in the crime. Their whereabouts were identified and the two were caught from Barwala village in Delhi. They confessed to the crime and the bike used by them was also recovered,” said the joint CP.

The police said that the interrogation of the arrested men revealed that the firing and extortion demand conspiracy was executed on the instructions of Sonu Dariyapur through his key aide Sumit alias Palotra, who is lodged in Mandoli jail. Dariyapur is presently lodged in Tihar jail.

Originally from Bihar’s Samastipur, Sahni came to Delhi in 2011 with his family and settled in Barwala village. He used to iron clothes in a local factory. Around three years ago, he met one Sidhant, who introduced him to Dariyapur during a court hearing. Sahni joined his gang and on Dariyapur’s instructions he along with Sahni, shot dead one Sunil of Barwala near Majnu ka Tila. Both were minors at that time. They were apprehended in the case but released soon, the police said.

Around a month ago, Sidhanth delivered a pistol with five bullets and a bike to Sahni through his contact named Amit. A fortnight later, Sahni and Sidhant met Palotra during a court hearing in Patiala House court. Palotra on behalf of Sonu Dariyapur asked them to extort money from the owners of Neelgiri Machinery, said the joint CP.

“As per the instructions, Sahni involved Dabas and they together executed the firing and extortion demand plan. We are now looking for other members of the gang who were involved in the planning,” added Kumar.