Gangster Raju Basodi arrested from Delhi airport

A special task force (STF) team of the Haryana Police arrested 35-year-old wanted gangster Raju Basodi from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi,

A special task force (STF) team of the Haryana Police arrested 35-year-old wanted gangster Raju Basodi from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi, in the wee hours of Saturday.

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Satheesh Balan, deputy inspector general, STF, said Basodi was handed over to the team around 7am by the airport authority, after the immigration officer found a red corner notice and a lookout circular against him.

“We (STF) received a call from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) around 1.30am that the immigration department has informed them of the wanted gangster’s arrival at the airport. One of the STF teams was sent to the airport to take him into custody and he was brought to Gurugram,” said Balan.

Raju Basodi, a resident of Basodi village in Sonepat, is wanted by the police in Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Chandigarh, and Delhi. Haryana Police had announced a reward of ₹2.5 lakh for information leading to his arrest.

Balan said Basodi was closely associated with other gangsters, namely, Lawrence Bishnoi, Sampat Nehra, Anil Chippi, Akshay Palra, and Naresh Sethi, all of whom are behind bars. His close associate Sandeep, alias Kala, of Jatheri, recently escaped police custody on February 1 from Faridabad, when the van ferrying him to Bhondsi jail, after a hearing, was attacked by his associates.

Basodi has also been accused of running an extortion racket from Thailand, mainly targeting businessmen in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Chandigarh and Delhi. He was collecting over ₹1 crore every month as protection money, the police said.

Balan said that besides extortion, Basodi’s gang was responsible for a number of severe crimes in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, including 13 cases of murder, three cases of attempt to murder and around a dozen cases of robbery and dacoity. “His gang used social media platforms, especially Facebook, to intimidate their targets or to claim their hand in different crimes or to give false moral and ideological justifications for their gruesome murders,” Balan said.

“Basodi’s gang had recently killed their rivals at Malot in Punjab and Manimajra in Chandigarh in broad daylight,” said Balan.

The police said they have sought custody of Basodi, for sustained interrogation to ascertain the whereabouts of Kala Jatheri, his associate and for solving pending cases.

In January, two teams of the STF had received a tip-off of his presence in Thailand and teams were sent to arrest him. The police said that Basodi, upon his return to India, was arrested.

On Monday, Basodi was produced before the district and sessions judge and taken on 10-day police remand, Balan said. “Basodi was not carrying any bag, phone or currency. He had one passport with him and his picture on it was of a Sardar from Punjab,” he said.

The police said he was carrying a Punjab passport, which was made on forged documents and under the assumed identity of Gurveer Singh. “Kaushal had paid ₹5 lakh to get this fake passport made through an agent in Punjab. We are verifying the details and will write to the Punjab authorities, to take action against the travel agent involved in the illegal documentation,” the officer said.

The police said they had issued a lookout circular against Basodi in January this year, besides the existing red corner notice.

The police said that Bisodi used internet-based calling to ensure that his whereabouts could not be traced. He used voice over internet protocol (VoIP) to make extortion and threat calls. He was using virtual numbers, i.e., a number without a directly associated line, to make the businessmen feel that they were getting calls from outside India.

He had last changed his location after his girlfriend’s visit to Thailand in January, the police said. “He had arrived in Thailand on a tourist visa and kept extending it. He never worked there and coordinated with all the gang members. He was connected to his close aides in jail through WhatsApp calls and used to send them updates related to money and weapons,” an officer said, on the condition of anonymity.

The STF teams were also tracking Bisodi’s movement and had visited Thailand last year and this year, the police said.

According to the police, there are numerous cases of murder, extortion, blackmail and threat calls, made through international numbers, against him. He has more than 200 cases registered against him in Haryana.