Gurgaon: Before murder, casino was on the cards for gangster Mahesh Attack

Gangster Mahesh Attack, who was shot dead by unidentified men outside his office near Jharsa Chowk on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway on September 21, had planned to set up a casino and entertainment complex

Gangster Mahesh Attack, who was shot dead by unidentified men outside his office near Jharsa Chowk on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway on September 21, had planned to set up a casino and entertainment complex, sources said. He had acquired rented space in Bijwasan on Delhi-Gurgaon border and in south Delhi for this purpose and had even got a number of investors from Gurgaon for the project. However, the fate of the project is now uncertain.

Gangster Mahesh Attack was shot dead by unidentified men outside his office near Jharsa Chowk on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway on September 21 (Parveen Kumar/HT File Photo)

According to Mahesh’s family members, they were not happy with his involvement in crime and had convinced him to give it up. In the last three to four years, he had tried to set up a business in which no criminal activity was involved.

“He had already taken two places on rent in Delhi to start his business and had even ordered the furniture. The police too had realised that he was about to start a casino in Delhi with his friend, a Bahadurgarh resident. He had paid the rent for six months and had involved many people from Gurgaon,” said Vineet Kumar, one of his friends working closely on the casino project.

In 2015, Mahesh had planned to start a casino in Gurgaon itself, but could not do so due to searches conducted by the police. He had signed an agreement with a Punjab-based businessman and was about to start operating the casino.

The businessman had earlier been arrested under gambling and excise acts at Punjab and Delhi. He and Mahesh had prepared a team for the new venture as the former had earlier run casinos earlier too in residential areas.

“Mahesh had visited Goa and Nepal in the past and had finalised a team from Nepal. He wanted to set up the best casino in Delhi and had even finalised a building in south Delhi, apart from the space in Bijwasan. Even the cook, who had worked in Sector 29 three years ago, had been hired,” said Sonu Singh, a close aide of Mahesh.

In January 2015, Mahesh and three of his friends had chosen a place in Sector 50 to run a casino, but had to drop the plan after the police searches in DLF City phase 2.

The Gurgaon police have interrogated the person involved with him in the business.

“Our crime teams are conducting the investigation and we will soon get the list of more members involved in the gambling business,” said a senior police official.

In addition, police also claimed to have identified four persons, stated to be rival gang members, involved in Mahesh’s murder. They said that not one, but two vehicles were involved in carrying out the murder.

We have identified another vehicle and four persons in the case who belong to a rival gang,” said a senior police official.