Notorious gang’s hitman arrested in southwest Delhi

The alleged sharpshooter of Nandu’s gang was arrested for allegedly opening fire at the office of a property dealer in Uttam Nagar on January 11

An alleged sharpshooter from fugitive gangster Kapil Sangwan alias Nandu’s gang, two members of an interstate gunrunning racket with links to dissident modules abroad, and a man with a criminal history wanted in connection with three dacoities committed in Delhi were arrested by three teams of the special cell in separate operations between January 15 and 22, the city police said Tuesday. A total of 29 pistols and 28 cartridges were recovered from the four arrested persons, they said.

Police said the sharpshooter opened fire to extort the property dealer for money on the behest of Nandu, who is operating his gang from Europe. (Representational image/Getty)

In the first operation on January 15, the special cell team of the northern range (NR) arrested a gunrunner named Ravi Khan from outer Delhi’s Bawana with 15 semi-automatic pistols that he had smuggled into the city to deliver to his associates. Police said Khan is from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh and has confessed to being a member of a firearms supply syndicate. He said he procured the weapons from his associate Rahul Singh in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district. The next day, the team reached Dhar and arrested Singh with 10 more weapons, said deputy commissioner of police (special cell, NR) Rajiv Ranjan Singh.

“Singh supplied weapons to criminals in Delhi and other states through Khan and other gunrunners. Singh’s interrogation revealed that he has links to some modules involved in subversive and hawala activities abroad. He has received a large amount of money from such modules illegally,” added DCP Singh.

The second operation was carried out on January 20 by the southwestern range (SWR) team that arrested Shekhar alias Sonu of Haryana’s Rohtak, an alleged sharpshooter of Nandu’s gang, for allegedly opening fire at the office of a property dealer in Uttam Nagar on January 11. He did so to extort the property dealer for money on the behest of Nandu, who is operating his gang from Europe, said deputy commissioner of police (special cell, SWR) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav.

“Shekhar disclosed that he was tasked with the job by Nandu’s key aide, Anil Podi, who is currently in jail. He was paid ₹20,000 as the token amount and promised a handsome share in the extortion money that the gang members expected to receive from the property dealer after the firing. We seized two pistols with eight bullets from Shekhar,” Yadav said.

In the third operation on January 22, the special cell’s New Delhi range (NDR) team caught 33-year-old Praveen alias Parvez, who was wanted in connection with three dacoity cases registered in Delhi, with two pistols and 20 cartridges. A proclaimed offender in at least 10 cases of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Praveen was also carrying a reward of ₹50,000 by the Delhi Police in connection with an armed dacoity of ₹15 lakh from Shahdara in April 2020, said DCP (special cell, NDR) Pramod Singh Kushwah.