Raids on to nab 3 key members of Kaushal gang

Police have identified seven more associates of the Kaushal gang who are staying in Faridabad, Gurugram, Sonipat and Jhajjar, and were involved in collecting the protection money on the behest of the gangster.

Several police teams are conducting raids in Faridabad and neighbouring cities, including Gurugram, to arrest three alleged members of Kaushal gang who were running his gambling and betting businesses from an apartment in a high-rise building in Faridabad, police said on Tuesday.

Gangster Kaushal was arrested last week in a secret operation from Dubai. (Sourced)

Police have identified seven more associates of the gang who are staying in Faridabad, Gurugram, Sonipat and Jhajjar, and were involved in collecting the protection money on the behest of gangster Kaushal, who was arrested last week in a secret operation from Dubai.

According to police, his associates used to collect money and send it through Hawala transactions (informal monetary transactions) after Kaushal made extortion calls from Dubai using virtual numbers. “These three associates are key members of his gang and have been evading arrest. They were regularly in touch with Kaushal and were also collecting protection money from liquor traders, hoteliers, jewellers, industrialists and other businessmen in Faridabad, Palwal and Gurugram,” said a police officer involved in the operation.

Police officials privy to the investigation said Kaushal’s gang members were collecting money from four districts in Haryana and had sent more than ₹1 crore this year since January to Kaushal. “Kaushal changed his locations three times since he moved to Dubai in December 2017, and in between he visited Thailand for a month. He was facing financial issues as he was paying hefty rent and was finding it difficult to maintain his lifestyle in Dubai. Though he was staying on a work visa, he never took up a job there and was operating out of an apartment where he lived with his two friends,” said the officer.

Police said many victims, who have complained to police after receiving extortion calls, have also paid between ₹5 lakh and ₹10 lakh to Kaushal’s associates to ensure they are not targeted.

Kaushal used to keep a tab on the gambling and betting businesses from Dubai and had maintained all the records of money transactions, which were stored in his laptop recovered by the Dubai officials from his apartment, said the officer. He targeted bookies and businessmen only, said police.

Police said Kaushal was facing financial crisis for the past three months after his 15 close aides were arrested, including his live-in partner Manisha. She had returned from Dubai on May 16, after spending three months with Kaushal and was arrested on June 4. She had revealed that they were hardly getting any money through the gang members. “They were receiving less protection money as compared to earlier months. After major gang members were arrested, people had stopped paying the protection money. Earlier, Kaushal used to receive ₹2 crore a month which came down to ₹50 lakh out of which he had to support his family and maintain his lifestyle in Dubai,” said another officer.

Police said the gang was involved in the murder of 40-year-old Vijay Batra alias Tantrik outside a condominium on Sohna Road on February 22 after he refused to pay ₹60 lakh to Kaushal which he lost in betting. The gang was also involved in the murder of a history-sheeter, JD, who was shot dead on January 23 in Shivaji Nagar after he refused to pay money to Kaushal.

Kaushal was arrested last week after a joint operation of Haryana police with their Dubai counterparts in a secret operation.