Ten members of Lawrence Bishnoi gang held in Gurugram

Police said the suspects had met in Bhondsi on Tuesday to plan a kidnapping but were arrested before they could commit the crime

Police arrested 10 members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang on Tuesday night from Bhondsi and Rajiv Chowk while they were allegedly planning to kidnap a businessman. As per Gurugram police, they had received a tip-off after which raids were conducted to nab the suspects.

Police officers address a press conference following the arrest of the 10 suspects. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

Police said the suspects had met in Bhondsi on Tuesday to plan the kidnapping but were arrested before they could commit the crime.

“We had set up barricades in Bhondsi and Rajiv Chowk and were checking vehicles to ensure no one passes the barricades. We arrested seven persons from Bhondsi while the others were arrested from Rajiv Chowk. The police uniform recovered from the suspects were stitched from Hisar and all the members were using system generated number that were similar to international number,” said Narender Chauhan, inspector and in-charge of crime unit agency, Sector 17, adding that gangster Goldy Brar would get in touch with them through these numbers.

The suspects were identified as Rakesh Kumar alias Anil, Harjot Singh alias Leela, Ajay Isharwalia alias Punjabi, Prince alias Golu, Joginder alias Joga, Sandeep alias Deep, and Sinderpal alias Bittu, who were arrested from Bhondsi. On the other hand, Dharmendra alias Dharma, Deepak alias Dilawar and Karan, were arrested from near Devi Lal stadium in Rajiv Chowk.

Police said illegal weapons were found in their possession. Among the items seized were four pistols, 28 live cartridges, a Scorpio and a Honda City car, and seven police uniforms among others, said police.

A case under sections 399, 402 and 171 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and 25 (1-B) (a) of the Arms Act was registered at Bhondsi police station., said police.

Varun Dahiya, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said the suspects during questioning revealed that they were planning to wear police uniforms to intercept vehicles and commit dacoity and kidnapping posing as policemen.

“Our teams raided two locations on Tuesday after a tip-off and arrested members of the Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar gangs,” ACP Dahiya said.

ACP Dahiya said that the seized Honda City car was robbed from Delhi recently. “During questioning, suspects revealed that all of them were active members of Bishnoi-Brar gang. They had come to Gurugram to carry out a major robbery and kidnapping. Joginder alias Joga planned to pose as an inspector posted at Bhondsi and others his team members,” he said.

Police said the suspects revealed that they were working under the instructions of Brar, Rohit Godara and Veeru, all of whom were based abroad. “The police uniforms and other accessories were procured from Haryana and Delhi,” said Dahiya.

Police said several cases of robbery, dacoity, attempted murder, theft, assault, threatening, and possession of illegal weapons are registered against these suspects in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.