Sharpshooters part of sleeper cell, target was to establish supremacy: Gurugram cops

A day after three members of Sube Gujjar’s gang were arrested after a brief exchange of gunfire in Sohna, police said probe has revealed that the main sharpshooter

A day after three members of Sube Gujjar’s gang were arrested after a brief exchange of gunfire in Sohna, police said probe has revealed that the main sharpshooter of Gujjar’s gang, Rajesh Kumar alias Fauji had recently formed a ‘sleeper cell’ of shooters and recruited the two arrested suspects, Kamal alias Kamli, 32, and Aman alias Sardar. Two policemen and both the arrested suspects were injured in the shootout.

HT Image

Police said on the directions of Sube Gujjar, Fauji had formed the cell and their target was to commit a series of crimes, starting with the murder of a property dealer in Dhunela on Tuesday, to establish supremacy. Investigators said that other gang members in Gujjar’s gang were unaware of the recruitment of these ‘silent’ sharp shooters.

The trio had conducted a recce for two days and assembled a cache of weapons for the murder, but they were arrested after the crime branch sector 39 received a tip-off. Two pistols, two revolvers, a country-made gun, 110 live cartridges, a backpack, and a motorcycle were allegedly recovered from the possession of the suspects.

Police said after the arrests of most of his associates, Sube Gujjar, a former sharpshooter of gangster Kaushal, has assumed leadership of the Kaushal gang in the last one year. Gujjar has a reward of Rs 5 lakh for information leading to his arrest. Fauji was Gujjar’s right hand man and most trusted aide, who kept him informed of the gang’s activities, said police.

Fauji has been deemed as a bad character — a person with a history of crime — at Sadar police station and is accused in 18 criminal cases, including several murders, extortions and loots in a career that spans over two decades. A resident of Naharpur Rupa, Fauji took to crime in 1998 and was arrested for the first time in 2001 for a conspiracy to loot. Over the next five years, he rose through the ranks and along with Kaushal and Sube, was involved in several gang wars, including murder of gangster Shailu in 2006.

From 2006 to 2008, a period when Gurugram witnessed several inter-gang shootings, he was accused in at least four murders and attempt to murder cases, before he was arrested by Delhi Police’s special cell from Bhiwadi. He continued to operate his activities from jail later. More recently in 2019, he was accused in the murder of a nambardar (an official who maintains and verifies land records) in Manesar and murder of a cleric in Hathin.

The second suspect, Kamal alias Kamli, a resident of village Badha in Kherki Daula, was a school bus driver till three years ago. He is a cousin of Fauji and was allegedly recruited by him. Police said he had allegedly committed two murders on the direction of Gujjar and his involvement in the gang was always kept under the wraps. He only reported to Gujjar and Fauji. The third aide, Aman alias Sardar, a native of Ludhiana, used to be an auto rickshaw driver and later started smuggling liquor for Fauji. He too was recruited on Gujjar’s directions for the purpose of carrying out a spate of murders.

Preet Pal, assistant commissioner of police (ACP), crime, said, “The entire gang and their aides are on the radar of the police and we are hopeful of getting them all behind bars. The three arrested persons are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Sohna and shall be taken into custody after they are discharged.”