Gurugram doctor kidnapping: MMA fighter, 5 other athletes took to crime for easy money

Police said the gang was formed by Jatan in 2015 after his brother was shot dead over political rivalry in the village. Chaubey joined them in 2017.

The five former sportsmen and members of the Joginder Panchi Jatan gang, who were Thursday arrested for allegedly kidnapping a 27-year-old city doctor, took to crime after their career in sports failed to take off, police said.

Amitesh Chaubey, 28, was an aspiring actor and professional mixed martial art (MMA) fighter. (HT File Photo)

While the main suspect, Joginder Panchi Jatan, 34, was a national-level hockey player, wrestler and a boxer during his school and college days in Sonepat; Amitesh Chaubey; 28, an aspiring actor and professional mixed martial art (MMA) fighter, allegedly had a desire for easy money, which led him to develop links with the gangsters.

The other three — Deepak Kumar, Kamal Malik and Shiv Kumar — were national-level boxers in school.

Police said the gang was formed by Jatan in 2015 after his brother was shot dead over political rivalry in the village. Chaubey joined them in 2017.

During questioning, they revealed that they wanted to join government services through sports quota but failed to get through, police said.

“The four began their crime spree with snatching chains and carjacking to earn money to support their lifestyle. Gradually, they decided to make more money to lead a lavish life. Joginder decided to move to Delhi and target rich people,” said KK Rao, inspector general of police, STF.

The gang was allegedly involved in several snatching, carjacking, attempt to murder, murder, kidnapping, extortion, dacoity and robbery cases. Police said they used to target people exiting pubs — mostly to rob them. That’s how they ended up abducting the 27-year-old doctor on March 16, police said, adding that he was let go after his father paid ₹55 lakh ransom without involving the police.

The police said there are many cases in which these suspects were involved but none of them were reported to police.

The four members took an apartment on rent at Chattarpur in Delhi and lived there for almost a year. Later, they rented an apartment in Ramesh Nagar, where they met Amitesh Chaubey — who introduced himself as a trainer of mixed martial arts — at a pub. They all moved in together in another house in the same area in 2018.

Police said the gang members befriended Chaubey and started visiting pub and bars together. The main suspect allegedly often spent lavishly at the pubs — and it inspired the MMA fighter. He started sharing his plight that he was finding it difficult to make his ends meet and said he dreamt of having a lifestyle like them, said police. At that time he was unaware that they were wanted criminals and had been declared proclaimed offenders by Rajasthan and Haryana police. At the time, he used to live in Ramesh Nagar and work as a trainer.

“Joginder offered Chaubey to join his gang and promised him a lavish lifestyle in short span of time. Chaubey said he was scared initially and was assured his name would never be revealed if they ever got caught by the police. He used to get 10% share each time they robbed someone and had started spending on clothes, watches and used to take his friends to clubs,” said an official privy to the investigation.

Police said initially he was reluctant. But he allegedly told them during questioning that he wanted to flaunt to his friends that he belonged to an affluent family. So he wanted to buy a luxury car and also wanted quick money to produce a movie with himself in the lead, police said.

Of ₹55 lakh received as ransom, Chaubey received ₹5 lakh with which he bought a second hand Honda Accord car, police said, adding that they have recovered the car from his possession