Dhankar never met Bhau, helped him for promise of American Dream: Delhi Police

19-year-old Annu Dhankar, a key suspect in a Burger King murder, was arrested for aiding fugitive gangster Himanshu Bhau, seeking a lavish US lifestyle.

Nineteen-year-old Annu Dhankar — one of the main conspirators in the Burger King shooting case who was arrested on Friday — told Delhi Police that she decided to help fugitive gangster Himanshu Bhau without having met him in person, as she was attracted to him and his lifestyle. The gang promised to help her immigrate to the United States of America, where she dreamed of living a lavish lifestyle, officers said on Saturday.

Annu Dhankar. (HT Photo)

Dhankar was arrested in Lakhimpur Kheri while en route to Nepal, where she planned to meet an associate of the gang who would provide her a forged visa for the United States, police said. She told police that the gang would have sent her to Dubai next week and the US by the next month, where she hoped to meet Bhau, police said.

Bhau fled India on a forged passport in 2022 and has remained in touch with Dhankar since, police said.

“We think that the only thing Dhankar wanted was a lavish lifestyle. She wanted to live in the US and study there. Bhau had promised to help her. She thought he was taking care of her and would never cheat her,” said a police officer who interrogated Dhankar.

Social media connection

Dhankar is from Rohtak. “She was upset after the death of her father, who was a farmer and her family’s sole breadwinner. We learnt that she felt disconnected from her family after her father’s death. She was the first one from her family to go to college for a bachelor of arts course, but she soon became dissatisfied with that too,” said an investigator.

In 2022, when she was 17 years old and in her first year of college in Rohtak, she saw Bhau, then 20 years old, at a wedding in the city. She became attracted to him and his lifestyle, and while they never met, she soon contacted him on social media and they started talking, police said. Soon Dhankar left her studies, police said.

Bhau, who is also from Rohtak, left the city in 2022 soon afterwards after his name cropped up in three murder cases which took place within 25 days. Police said he fled to Dubai and towards Portugal before relocating to the US. Dhankar told police that she was impressed when Bhau promised to bring her to the US with him, said officers. Bhau allowed Dhankar to conduct recce with other gang members and take part in robbery and extortion bids, said police.

Budding gangster

Dhankar’s first reported role in a crime came up in January 2024, said deputy commissioner of police (special cell) Amit Kaushik. “She was involved with the assailants who fired more than 40 rounds at a famous sweets shop in Rohtak and demanded ₹2 crore from the owner via a letter. While other assailants were arrested, Dhankar was shifted to Delhi,” he said.

Bhau asked her to take a room in a PG accommodation in Mukherjee Nagar, said police. “He then asked her to talk to a rival gangster’s cousin and lure him to meet her at a restaurant but he never showed up. She then targeted Aman Joon,” said a second police officer.

26-year-old Aman Joon, who was a suspected member of a rival gang, was gunned down by two assailants from the Bhau gang inside a Burger King outlet in Rajouri Garden, west Delhi on June 18. Dhankar’s role in the murder was to contact Joon on social media, lure him to the eatery on the pretext of a date and keep him occupied until the assailants arrived to kill him — all of which she did, said police.

“She had made 15 different fake accounts on Instagram and Facebook and was messaging several people. Ten days before the crime, she sent Joon a friend request and he accepted. She posed as a student from Delhi University and the two started talking. She gained his trust within days and asked him out on a date. The two decided to meet at the Burger King outlet,” said a senior police officer.

“She was well aware of the plan to kill Joon. After the murder, she rushed to her PG, collected her belongings and fled to Chandigarh. While leaving she told her landlord to give her security deposit to a friend and told her friends she was returning home due to a family emergency,” the officer said.

Police said she managed to reach Katra railway station alone but Bhau contacted her and asked her to leave. The DCP said, “He was following the news and police activity. He told her to go towards Haridwar. She was then sent to Kota where she remained untraceable for the next four months. She posed as a student and hid her identity. She was also receiving money from Bhau for her daily expenses,” the DCP said.

When Bhau felt that it was safe for Dhankar to travel again, he asked her to vacate her room in Kota and go towards the Nepal border, said police.

However, police received a tip about Dhankar after she boarded a bus from Lucknow towards Lakhimpur Kheri. Police chased her and arrested her on Friday evening before she crossed over to Nepal. On Saturday she was brought to Delhi and sent to judicial custody by a local court.