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Fugitive gangster arrested from near park on Outer Ring Road
New Delhi: An alleged gangster involved in 10 criminal cases and carrying a total reward of ₹5
New Delhi: An alleged gangster involved in 10 criminal cases and carrying a total reward of ₹5.25 lakh for his arrest has been arrested along with his associate seven years after he jumped parole, the Delhi Police said on Tuesday.
Manishi Chandra, deputy commissioner of police (special cell), said Ashok Pradhan, 36, was looking for an opportunity to kill his rivals, jailed gangsters Neeraj Bawana and Naveen Bali. “He wanted to kill Bawana and Bali during their court appearances, but his plan was delayed due to the Covid-19 protocols prohibiting the physical appearances of accused men in court,” said Chandra.
The DCP said Pradhan was arrested along with his associate, Arun Baba.
The duo was arrested from near Millennium Park on the Outer Ring Road on Sunday night after the police received a tip-off. “The car they were driving was robbed from someone and they were carrying two guns,” the officer said.
The police said Pradhan, who belongs to Jhajjar in Haryana, was an associate of another gangster Neetu Dabodia, but took over the gang after Dabodia was killed in a police encounter in October 2013.
“In the last 10 years, Pradhan and his men have been involved in gang wars in which at least 12 people have been killed,” the DCP said.
Pradhan began as an associate of Dabodia in 2001 and quickly rose in the ranks of the gang by killing a village chief and a doctor in Bahadurgarh, the DCP said. Police said that he was convicted in a murder case and jailed for life.
But once he received parole in 2014, he didn’t return to jail and ran his own gang that was notorious as the ‘Pradhan gang’, the officer said.
Pradhan carried a reward of ₹5 lakh on his arrest announced by the the Haryana Police and R25,000 by the Delhi Police. “His was the mastermind behind the murders of a man last October and December, both in Bawana,” the officer said.
His associate, Baba, worked as a shooter for him, the DCP said.
