Jailed gangster’s close aide, 3 others held after shoot-out in Gurugram

Mahal, the alleged kingpin of the gang, has been lodged in Tihar Jail since 2017. According to the police, the gang is now led by Surya, who has been involved in at least 100 cases of extortion, murder and kidnapping, among other heinous crimes in the region.

The crime branch of the Gurugram police arrested three “most-wanted” gangsters and an aide after a shoot-out on the Dwarka Expressway around 2.30 am on Wednesday.

The crime branch of the Gurugram police arrested three “most-wanted” gangsters and an aide after a shoot-out on the Dwarka Expressway around 2.30 am on Wednesday. (Yogendra Kumar/HT File PHOTO)

The accused, three of whom sustained gunshot wounds, allegedly sped off after spotting the police in Sector 40 after which four police teams chased them for more than 30 minutes till Dhanwapur Chowk where the car of the accused got stuck in a pothole, the police said.

The accused were identified as Lokesh alias Surya, Pradeep alias Sonu, Neeraj alias Sanju, and Jagbir alias Kashmir. While Surya, Sonu and Sanju are members of the Manjeet Mahal gang, which has been operational in Delhi, Gurugram and Rajasthan for over two decades, Jagbir was their aid.

Mahal, the alleged kingpin of the gang, has been lodged in Tihar Jail since 2017. According to the police, the gang is now led by Surya, who has been involved in at least 100 cases of extortion, murder and kidnapping, among other heinous crimes in the region. Last year, the Delhi police had announced a reward of ₹1 lakh for information leading to Surya’s arrest and ₹50,000 each for information leading to arrest of Pradeep and Neeraj.

Two pistols of 9mm, one countrymade pistol of 38 bore, one countrymade pistol of 32 bore, 25 live cartridges and a stolen SUV were recovered from the possession of the four men. They were produced in the district court on Wednesday evening and remanded to four days in police custody. A case was registered against them under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Arms Act at the Rajendra Park police station.

Police commissioner Muhammad Akil said the Rajasthan police had tipped them off that the four criminals would be in the city’s DLF area, where they planned to kill an illegal arms trader. “We formed two police teams and set up barriers on several approach roads. When the accused spotted the police in Sector 40, they tried to escape and fled towards Dwarka Expressway,” Akil said.

The operation was led by inspector Bijender Hooda of the Palam Vihar crime unit, who was tracking their locations since June 22 when they had snatched a Mahindra XUV 500 from a BCom student in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan.

In the wee hours of Wednesday, a police team saw an SUV and tried to intercept the vehicle, but the driver sped off towards the Sector 4 intersection. Hooda said they informed the police control room and another team was sent to chase the vehicle as it went out of sight and could be spotted only after 15 minutes.

“The crime team members tried to stop them, but they drove towards Daultabad flyover and turned towards Dwarka Expressway. The police warned them to stop but they were speeding and suddenly turned towards Tekchand Nagar. They then lost control of the vehicle as one of the tyres got stuck in a pothole. That’s when they started firing at the police; they fired eight shots. The police team also fired six shots in retaliation, three of which hit three of them; the fourth man is unhurt,” Akil said.

Akil added that after the first gangster was shot, the others tried to flee by giving each other covering fire, but they were hit and surrounded by the police. They were rushed to Sector 10 Civil Hospital from where they were referred to Safdarjung Hospital, the police said.

No policeman was injured in the crossfire.

Akil said Surya is reportedly Mahal’s nephew and played an important role in the gang. He had been on the radar of the Delhi crime teams, who were trying to track his movement.

“We were working in close coordination with our counterparts from other states, who were sharing details of their movement. Surya was heading this gang and tops the list of most-wanted gangsters in Delhi, Rajasthan, and Gurugram. He was the right-hand man of Manjeet Mahal,” Akil said.

Surya, who reportedly studied till standard 12, is a resident of Najafgarh village in Delhi. He is a history-sheeter and has multiple cases of murder, attempt to murder, contract killing, extortion, kidnapping, robbery, dacoity, lift-and-loot, snatching and vehicle theft registered against him in Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan.

“Preliminary interrogation has revealed that this gang is involved in more than 100 cases and were mostly involved in extorting money from property dealers, businessmen, illegal arms traders, doctors, bookies and hotel owners,” Akil said, adding that investigation in the case will not be carried out by the police officers involved in the encounter to ensure fair and unbiased investigation.

The top cop said he has written to the Delhi police commissioner using that the reward money be given to Gurugram crime branch officials responsible for the arrests.

Additional commissioner of police (Delhi crime branch) Rajiv Ranjan said their team also arrested two members of Surya’s gang on Tuesday night and were tracking their movements. “He was involved in many cases of extortion and murders in Delhi,” Ranjan said