Phone used by Kaushal’s aide to pass information from Bhondsi jail recovered

A police officer privy to the investigation, requesting anonymity, said that they used to share information pertaining to businessmen in Faridabad, following which Kaushal made extortion calls, demanding protection money.

A team of Faridabad police officials, along with jail authorities, raided the Bhondsi district jail on Thursday and recovered at least four mobile phones, including one that was allegedly used by gangster Neeraj Faridpuria to pass information to Kaushal.

The Special Task Force (STF) Haryana police with gangster Kaushal who was arrested from Indira Gandhi International Airport early morning, at Police Commissioner Office in Faridabad. (Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Faridpuria, who was lodged in Bhondsi jail, was taken on production remand four days ago and during questioning, allegedly revealed that when he was sharing a barrack, in ward number 5, with Amit Dagar, the sharpshooter of the gang, the duo used to make calls to Dubai, where Kaushal was reportedly based.

A police officer privy to the investigation, requesting anonymity, said that they used to share information pertaining to businessmen in Faridabad, following which Kaushal made extortion calls, demanding protection money.

“Three more mobile phones were recovered from wards 6 and 2, respectively, from three inmates during the checking,” said the official.

Police said a blue phone, battery and SIM, which were found buried beneath a mound of earth in a lawn in ward 5, was now a case property in the FIR registered in the murder case of Vikas Chaudhary at Sector 7 police station in Faridabad.

A case was registered against Faridpuria under Section 42 of The Prisons Act at Bhondsi police station on Thursday, said police.

Meanwhile, the crime investigation agency (CIA), Sector 10 on Thursday took Kaushal’s live-in partner, Manisha, on production remand from Bhondsi for allegedly forging the birth certificate of her daughter to get a passport made. She was arrested in June.

Kaushal was arrested last month by a team of the special task force (STF) of Haryana, from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi. He was living in Dubai since December 2017 on a fake passport, belonging to one Vinay Kumar, a resident of Adind village in Alwar, Rajasthan. He had allegedly forged identification documents, including a passport from Jaipur in June 2016, a ration card and a birth certificate from Tauru in Nuh.