Kolkata, July 15: With the arrest of five persons, including a hardcore criminal Raja, near Pipli in Kurukshetra late on Monday night, the Haryana police claimed to have busted another inter-state gang of highway robbers and gunrunners.
The gang leader, Sunil alias Raja of Bhiwani, was wanted in nine cases of murder, robbery and dacoity in the state. The police also recovered four pistols, five live cartridges, two empty shells, one Bolero car, a fake driving licence and a Scorpio car from the accused.
The arrested were identified as Sunil alias Raja (Bhiwani), Naveen Kumar alias Monu (Rohtak), Kuldeep Singh alias Bhaiya (Jhajjar), Sarif alias Bhullar alias Pehlwan (Jhajjar) and the only woman member Kamla Yadav (Najafgarh in Delhi).
The five were produced in a Kurukshetra court on Tuesday. While Naveen alias Monu was remanded in police custody for 10 days, the others were sent to 8-days’ police remand.
Recently, the Haryana police had busted another gang of highway robbers led by Jaipal.
How they were caught
A special investigation team of the Panchkula-Ambala police, led by Inspector Rajesh Kumar and Inspector Jangsher Bahadur (SHO, Chandimandir), arrested the gang. “After an increasing number of highway robberies were reported, a special investigating team was formed by Ambala range IG K K Sindhu to look into the matter,” said Panchkula SP Amitabh Dhillon, who supervised the team.
“On Monday, the police signalled two cars on the highway to stop but, instead, the occupants opened fire. The police retaliated and after a ten-minute exchange of gunfire, the accused were overpowered and arrested,” he added.
According to preliminary investigation, the gang was involved in arms smuggling and highway robberies. It was active in Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
The gang members’ history
“Sunil has confessed to six murders, including a double murder in Bhiwani. He’s also charged with murder and cases under the Arms Act have been registered against him in Maharashtra and Nagpur. In 2007, Sunil had escaped from the custody of Maharahstra police at the Jhansi railway station, and carried a reward for his capture,” said Dhillon.
Naveen Kumar alias Monu has also confessed to his involvement in around seven robberies in Haryana. “He told us he robbed one Tata Safari, one Tavera, an Accent car and two Maruti cars on the Delhi-Chandigarh national highway. He was also actively smuggling arms and ammunition in Haryana,” added Dhillon.
Kuldeep Singh alias Bhaiya used to purchase arms from Naveen and sold them further at higher rates. Some cases under Arms Act are registered against him in Jhajjar.
Another accused Sarif alias Bhullar alias Pehlwan said he was involved in around five highway robberies along the NH-1 in Haryana and the arms trade in Haryana.
“Kamla Yadav used to take care of the arms and ammunition and she joined the gang after the death of her husband Azad, who was also a hardcore criminal,” added Dhillon.
–Agencies