STF nabs six who were planning a contract killing

Noida: The Noida unit of the Uttar Pradesh special task force (STF) arrested six people Monday from Greater Noida West who were allegedly planning the contract killing

Noida: The Noida unit of the Uttar Pradesh special task force (STF) arrested six people Monday from Greater Noida West who were allegedly planning the contract killing of a garment trader in Ghaziabad.

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The suspects were identified as Colonel Giri (32), a sharp shooter for the Anil Dujana gang, and Vinod Kumar, both from Muzaffarnagar, Rohit Giri, of Meerut, Shyam Sundar, of Haryana and Rinku Bhati (26) and Rohit Thakur (28), both from Bulandshahr.

According to police , Giri was approached by his contact in Meerut jail to carry out the contract killing.

“The contact was told to carry out the hit by someone else. We are working on tracing the whole chain. Giri had been offered ₹6 lakh for the job and had received half the amount as an advance payment. One of his accomplices, another member of the Dujana gang, who is on the run at the moment, contacted Rinku who in turn called in the other suspects,” DSP RK Mishra, Noida STF, said.

He said the reason for the contract being taken out is being probed. Police said the intended victim had some property issues which could be why he was targeted.

“We had a tip-off about the suspects who were then arrested following an encounter in Rise Chowk, Bisrakh, around 6.40pm,” Mishra said.

“They all got together four days ago to carry out a recce of the trader’s house. All of them have a criminal history and have cases of murder, rape, kidnapping, extortion etc, against them. Giri has at least 11 cases against him while Shyam has 15,” the DSP said.

Police recovered two pistols, two countrymade pistols, live cartridges, 5.2kg marijuana, two SUVs with fake number plates and five cellphones from the suspects. They were handed over to the Bisrakh police after which they were produced before a magistrate and sent to jail.