4 Indian accomplices of Chinese national running illegal club held by Gautam Budh Nagar Police

Officials from the Intelligence Bureau, Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and Union ministry of home affairs, along with senior police officers, are interrogating Thakkar. He knows Mandarin and often acted as a translator for Xue and other Chinese nationals, said an official. Thakkar revealed that Xue was evading GST by setting up fake companies

Two weeks after Chinese national Xue Fei (36), and his Indian girlfriend Petekhrinuo (22), were arrested by Gautam Budh Nagar Police, four of their Indian accomplices, including a woman, were nabbed on Sunday night.

Ravi Thakkar (third from left) in custody on Monday. (Sourced)

The four were identified as Ravi Natwarlal Thakkar, Pushpendra Kumar, Pradeep and Allen. While Thakkar and Kumar were arrested from Gautam Nagar in Delhi, Pradeep was arrested from Habibpur village and Allen from Unitech Horizon housing society in Greater Noida.

Police recovered four luxury watches from brands such as Longines, Rolex and Bulgari worth over ₹11 lakh, a Royal Enfield Continental GT bike worth ₹3 lakh, a Thar SUV worth ₹15 lakh from Thakkar. A safe locker with ₹30,000 cash and six debit cards has also been recovered, revealed senior officers of Gautam Budh Nagar Police.

Earlier, police raided Thakkar’s Sector 143 residence where they found crucial documents as well as 70 pairs of branded shoes worth ₹40,000 each.

“Thakkar went to China in 2012 to pursue MBBS. He had met his fiancée there and had been in touch with her since. However, he returned to India in 2017 and never completed his medical studies. The car recovered from his possession has a doctor’s sticker on it. He has worked in Chinese firms in Gujarat and Noida after which he got in touch with Chinese nationals,” said a senior police officer.

Thakkar’s name is mentioned as director in nine companies registered by Xue, of which seven have been found to be bogus. He was tracked with the help of his fiancée, who was picked up by police for questioning on Saturday. “Pushpendra was already being tracked by police from Satna in Madhya Pradesh. As he came to Delhi to meet Thakkar, we nabbed the duo,” said an officer.

After getting hold of Thakkar, other accomplices were nabbed by police teams on Sunday itself. Kumar runs a security agency and provided security staff and receptionists, waitresses for the illegal club. Police suspect that he was also involved in human trafficking for an alleged prostitution ring at the club. He has a residence at a high-rise in Gaur City in Greater Noida West.

Pradeep, a native of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was working as a helper at the illegal club, while Allen, who hails from Assam, was working as a manager at the club.

Officials from the Intelligence Bureau, Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and Union ministry of home affairs, along with senior police officers, are interrogating Thakkar. He knows Mandarin and often acted as a translator for Xue and other Chinese nationals, said an official.

Thakkar revealed that Xue was evading GST by setting up fake companies. “He was hiding in Delhi but to mislead police, his mobile phone was given to another person that showed locations in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh,” said an investigator.

Two more accomplices of Xue — Ashok and Johnson —are under police radar. According to police, Ashok is the caretaker of the illegal club and was working as a personal assistant of Xue. “It is suspected that Ashok used to deposit funds coming from illegal channels into the bank accounts of Petekhrinuo. He also has a licenced gun and worked as a bouncer and driver for Xue,” said an officer. Johnson is a Chinese national whose name has also come up during investigation into the case, said police.

Meanwhile, Meenakshi Katyayan, deputy commissioner of police (Greater Noida), on Monday transferred three officers posted at Ecotech-1 police station after an inquiry was set up to probe their role in the operation of the illegal club.