Man held for ‘facilitating’ robberies of hawala money

Investigations into a brazen armed robbery in south Delhi last April have led the police to a ‘freelance robbery facilitator’ with his own ground-level source base spread across the Capital, the crime branch said on Thursday.

Investigations into a brazen armed robbery in south Delhi last April have led the police to a ‘freelance robbery facilitator’ with his own ground-level source base spread across the Capital, the crime branch said on Thursday.

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The accused, Karnail Singh, also known as Karnala, is wanted in at least 76 criminal cases, some of which date back to 1990, said Ravindra Yadav, additional commissioner of police (crime).

Sources claimed that Karnala had lately been in the business of providing intelligence about vast sums of money in transit at major markets such as Chandni Chowk and Karol Bagh and also supplied arms to budding cons willing to move in for the kill.

“Karnala has a peculiar modus operandi,” an officer associated with the investigation said. “He would recruit budding criminals fresh out of jail and plant them as informers in the guise of men doing odd jobs in markets and areas where substantial amounts of cash — usually hawala money — do the rounds on a daily basis.” Not many of the victims reported the robberies because the cash was often got through the illegal hawala network.

According to the police, Karnala’s arrest followed the arrest of the leader of gang that was involved in a robbery at south Delhi’s Defence Colony. “On April 13 last year, a businessman was travelling from Karol Bagh’s Gaffar Market to his residence in his with some money. When he reached the Defence Colony flyover, his path was blocked by six persons on three motorcycles and robbed of R25 lakh at gunpoint,” Yadav said.

Investigations revealed that the gang had been led by Sunil who continued to evade the police for almost three years. The police, though, had managed to get their hands on seven of his associates.

“Sunil was arrested after a brief gunbattle in outer Delhi. His interrogation led is to Karnala, a south Delhi resident” Yadav added.