The ‘quick road’ to catching gangsters in north Delhi’s Rohini

From gangsters to vehicle thieves, arms smugglers to drug peddlers, Delhi Police arrested at least 30 known criminals from the road in the last two years, showed the force’s records analysed by HT, prompting experts to question why so many lawbreakers would use this fraught route so often

A nondescript highway, with few signs of life, cuts through northwest Delhi, running along Rohini and ending at a heliport on Urban Extension Road 2 near the Capital’s border with Haryana -- with little habitation, barely any CCTV cameras, scant footpaths, and no traffic. This 4km stretch, Bhagwan Mahavir Road, has according to official data emerged as a place where a large number of the Capital’s most-wanted criminals are caught by the Delhi Police.

Records seen by HT show at least 25 wanted fugitives have been arrested in the last two years. To be sure, these are only cases of arrest shared by police. The actual number could be more. (Representative image)

From gangsters to vehicle thieves, arms smugglers to drug peddlers, Delhi Police arrested at least 30 known criminals from the road in the last two years, showed the force’s records analysed by HT, prompting experts to question why so many lawbreakers would use this fraught route so often.

A Delhi Police spokesperson said that as the road was situated close to the Haryana border and sparsely populated, it provided an easy escape route. “But just because there have been frequent cases of encounters between the police and the gangsters there, it cannot be said that this is part of a trend,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Many of those arrests, records show, follow a similar pattern — the suspects make their way through Bhagwan Mahavir Road; they are waylaid by police officers and asked to stop. In some cases, the suspects refuse and fire at the police party; an officer is hit in the bulletproof vest; the officers retaliate and shoot the suspects in the legs. Raids on this stretch ticked all these boxes on at least seven instances in the last two years alone, ending with the arrests of 11 people. In that time, 32 people have been arrested from the same stretch in 17 raids.

This sequence of events was also seen the last time gangsters were arrested from the stretch — on September 10, around 4.30pm, when a 13-member police team arrested three men associated with the notorious Lawrence Bishnoi-Goldy Brar gang wanted for their role in killing Punjab singer and Congress leader Sidhu Moosewala.

Their arrests, police said, prevented a series of contract killings in Delhi that were to be executed on Brar’s orders.

The shoot-out was reminiscent of two crackdowns reported within a week last year.

On April 6 last year, police were escorting a prisoner, Pravesh Gauriya, who runs a criminal outfit in the National Capital Region (NCR), back to the Prashant Vihar police station from his residence in Karala village, a roughly 14km-route that crosses Bhagwan Mahavir Road.

Gauriya told the police team he was feeling unwell and needed to throw up. As he stepped out of the escort vehicle, Gauriya snatched a police officer’s pistol and tried to escape. Then, much like on September 10 this year, the police team asked him to stop. He fired, hit a cop in his bulletproof vest, was shot in the leg in return fire, and taken back into custody.

Days before that, on April 1, the police were looking to arrest two suspected criminals who planned to use the road to head to Rohtak in Haryana. Following a sequence of events similar to the two incidents mentioned above, the two men were taken into custody.

Some experts and advocates have questioned the veracity of these events.

Advocate Pradeep Rana, who has represented several top gangsters in court, said: “If there is one common place where several criminals are being arrested, then this smacks of wrongdoing. All the cases may not be fake, but the police point to an arrest location different from where it may have happened in a bid to suit themselves. It’s hard to believe that gangsters will be naive enough to repeatedly go to this place only to get arrested or shot,” he said.

The Delhi Police spokesperson said the force was actively working against gangsters and criminals to ensure the safety and security of people. In the recent past, many criminals linked with narco terrorism and operating not only across states but national boundaries have been caught by Delhi Police, from not only Delhi but also other parts of India, the spokesperson added.

“As far as Rohini cases are concerned, the helipad road is connected with the Urban Extension Road (UER) and has multiple routes connecting it with Bahadurgarh and Sonipat. It has been observed that due to its access to neighbouring states it is a preferred escape route. Since the area is sparsely populated and the risk of collateral damage is less, the encounters between gangsters and police takes place more often. However, each and every case is different and cannot be clubbed to make a generalisation,” the spokesperson said.

An analysis of FIRs filed by officers before arresting a suspect from this stretch showed that the police said they tried to get passersby as eyewitnesses, but they refused citing “personal reasons”. This happened in at least seven instances, showed the records.

Senior police officers said the stretch was attractive to gangsters because it offered them a perfect getaway, especially to Delhi’s urban villages or the isolated margins of neighbouring Haryana, where criminal groups thrive.

“The stretch is close to Bawana, where several gangs are active. It is deserted too. There are no houses or buildings for almost three or four kilometres, the carriageways are bordered by bushes, and barring a few CCTV cameras at the traffic signals, electronic surveillance is absolutely absent. These present important advantages for criminals looking for a quick getaway,” said an officer with the Delhi Police crime branch.

Another attraction for criminals may be the absence of a police station in the area, said a second officer.

The Rohini heliport, one of the most prominent structures in this part of the Capital, was started in 2017. A private company operates the helicopter services within and outside Delhi. A portable cabin on a pavement nearby serves as a police post, with enough space for four or five officers.

The cabin was set up around two years ago to ensure officers can patrol the area. The nearest police station, in Begumpur, is 5km away.

“The area is still being developed. This is a place within Delhi, but is nothing like Delhi,” a police constable at the post said.