Greater Noida: Gangster Ravi Kana arrested at airport after deportation from Thailand

The arrests came three months after Kana was booked with three others for gan-grape of a woman at a parking lot of a mall in Sector 38A, Noida

Ravi Kana, a Greater Noida-based gangster and scrap dealer, and his friend Kajal Jha were arrested from the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on Friday following their deportation from Bangkok, Thailand, officers said on Saturday.

Gangster Ravi Kana (HTPhoto)

The arrests came three months after Kana, 42, a resident of Dadupur village in Greater Noida, was booked with three others -- Vikas, Azad, and Rajkumar -- on December 30, 2023 for gangrape of a 25-year-old woman by the Noida Police. The trio were arrested in January.

The woman had alleged that she was gang-raped at a parking lot of a mall in Sector 38A, Noida, in June.

“The victim did not approach the police earlier as she was being blackmailed by the suspects. The suspects were booked under section 376D (gang rape) and 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code,” said deputy commissioner of police (Noida) Vidyasagar Mishra.

Kana left India after an FIR was registered against him under Gangster Act on January 2, to evade arrest. Officers believe that Kana, his wife Madhu Nagar, and friend Jha fled India in the first week of January.

Later, charges under Gangster Act were slapped against him and 15 others, for alleged illegal activities in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad for over two decades.

In the last three months, 15 of Kana’s aides, including his wife, have been arrested and police attached their property worth ₹250 crore, including ₹120 crore of Kana, the officers added.

According to deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (Greater Noida) SM Khan, the Interpol arrested both Kana and Jha in Bangkok on Thursday and then they were deported to India.

“In January, a lookout circular and Red Corner notice were issued against Kana to prevent him from fleeing the country. However, intelligence sources later revealed that Kana had already fled,” he said.

Following intelligence sources’ inputs, call records and interrogation of Kana’s arrested associates, including his wife, and his location were traced to Bangkok. As a result, the Noida police commissionerate wrote to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) about the absconding suspect, and information was exchanged regarding his whereabouts, the officer said.

“The CBI further informed the Interpol and he was held on Thursday in Bangkok, along with his friend Kajal Jha, who is also booked in the Gangster Act,” the DCP said.

Kana and Jha had applied for visa renewal in Thailand, said senior officers who are part of the probe.

“As their three-month visa was expiring, Kana and Jha had recently applied for visa extension. This led the Interpol to trace them. They were held by Bangkok authorities on Thursday and deported on Friday,” said one of the officers.

On Friday, immigration authorities informed Greater Noida police about the deportation of Kana and Jha and a police team took him into custody from Delhi airport, he added.

“They were brought to the Knowledge Park police station and interrogated on Friday night. On Saturday morning, the two were produced before the magistrate at the district court in Greater Noida and sent to judicial custody,” said DCP Khan.

According to an investigating officer, Jha and Kana were questioned regarding their scrap-dealing business and others involved in it.

“Kana was questioned about since how long he has been handling the business, how much movable and immovable property he has acquired from the illegally-earned funds, how many others are involved in the crime, how many people did he extort from and so on,” the officer said, adding: “During questioning, Jha informed that she used to handle Kana’s finances and investments.”

Ravi Nagar alias Ravi Kana alias Ravindra Singh, is accused of running a scrap business by threatening other scrap dealers and robbing them of scrap before selling it in the market. His friend Kajal Jha, 30, a resident of Delhi. She is also accused of being involved in the same.

Nagar is the brother of Harendra Pradhan alias Harendra Nagar, who had several cases of murder and extortion registered against him in Greater Noida and Ghaziabad. Pradhan was shot dead at a wedding ceremony in February 2015. A dreaded gangster Sundar Bhati was convicted for the murder by the district court in Surajpur in 2023.

On Saturday, Kana was sent to 14-day judicial custody in the District Jail in Luksar, Greater Noida. The Greater Noida Police will apply for Kana’s police custody remand on Monday at the district court to interrogate him further with links to his scrap dealing business and extortion allegations, said officers.

Disclosures made by Kana to the police are part of the investigation and cannot be made public, said officers.

Meanwhile, Kana’s security is also a matter of concern for police as members of the rival Sundar Bhati gang, which killed Kana’s brother Harendra, are also lodged in the same jail. Kana will be lodged in a high-security barrack of the jail due to this, said Khan.

Officers informed that with the latest arrest, all 16 people booked under the Gangster Act, have been put behind bars.

Other 13 members, apart from Kana, his wife Madhu and Jha, who have been arrested over the last three months are identified as Rajkumar Nagar from Dadupur, Tarun Chhonkar from Crossing Republic, Aman from Kasna village, Vishal from Kasna, Awadh alias Amar Singh from Dadupur, Mehki Nagar alias Mehkaar from Dadupur, Anil from Dadupur, Vicky from Salarpur, Afsar from Bulandshahr, Rashid from Hapur, Azad Nagar from Dadupur, Prahlad from Agra and Vikas from Dadupur, said DCP Khan.

He added that while the chargesheet against 11 members of the gang was submitted in the court on April 4, investigation into Kana, Jha, Rajkumar, Mehki, and Azad is still on.

“Chargesheet against the remaining five suspects will also be submitted soon by police,” said the officer.