Gangster Kaushal planned to open night club in Dubai with hawala money: Gurugram Police

According to the police, Kaushal had come to Dubai in December 2017 on a tourist visa and later secured a work visa as a plumber for three months. Although he never worked there, he secured multiple work visas showing his profession as a carpenter, plumber, lift operator and welder.

A day after 38-year-old most-wanted gangster Kaushal was arrested from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi, police officers privy to the investigation said he has confessed that he was collecting funds to open a night club in Dubai and had got Rs 40 lakh transferred to himself through hawala transactions in July this year for the payment of “token amount”.

The Special Task Force (STF) Haryana police with gangster Kaushal who was arrested from Indira Gandhi International Airport early morning, at Police Commissioner Office, in Faridabad, Haryana, on Monday, August 26, 2019. (Photo by Yogendra Kumar / Hindustan Times)

“A Gurugram-based night club owner was helping him invest money with a local businessman in Dubai for the same. For the partnership agreement, Kaushal had to invest Rs 3 crore before November,” the officer said requesting anonymity.

According to the police, Kaushal had come to Dubai in December 2017 on a tourist visa and later secured a work visa as a plumber for three months. Although he never worked there, he secured multiple work visas showing his profession as a carpenter, a plumber, a lift operator and a welder in an automobile service workshop, the police said. “He got multiple work visas in Dubai, where he lived with his gang members and operated from different parts of the UAE. He kept his identity a secret. Only five members of his gang knew that he was running his extortion racket from there,” said Narender Bijarniya, superintendent of police of Palwal and a member of special investigation team (SIT) formed to arrest Kaushal.

Bijarniya said that initially Kaushal struggled to get a work visa in Dubai and had to pay a hefty amount to a local travel agent who helped him find an apartment on rent. “Initially, he lived in dormitories with seven other workers, who used to work in different workshops. He used to run his operation in their absence from the room. Afterwards, when he started receiving money through hawala transactions, he moved to an apartment,” he said.

The police said Kaushal also tried to form a gang in Dubai and rope in small-time thieves. However, his operations failed to flourish. “He formed a gang of men from India, who used to work in car service stations and automobile workshops and were involved in thefts of spare parts. However, he failed to make much money and tried his hands in other crimes,” Bijarniya said.

Three separate teams—a special task force, the Faridabad police and an SIT formed in June by former police commissioner of Faridabad—are interrogating Kaushal, who was taken in 7-day police custody on Monday.

The police said he was being interrogated every three hours and questioned about the involvement of his gang members based in Faridabad, Rewari and Gurugram.

Kaushal has identified all of his gang members, their role in the cases of murders, kidnapping and extortion registered in Haryana and their hideouts, the police said, adding that they are conducting raids but are yet to arrest them.

According to a police officer privy to the investigation, Kaushal played a key role in diverting the black money of his gang and converting it to white through international business transactions. “The hawala agents involved in transferring the money will be arrested soon as we have received strong leads. During interrogation, he revealed information about the monetary transactions of his gang members. We are verifying the information and have formed teams, who are conducting raids to arrest the hawala agents and his gang members,” said Bijarnia.

The cyber crime teams are trying to track the locations of their mobile devices, but the suspects are changing their hand sets frequently, police sources said.