An NIA search operation at over 50 locations across the country in connection with cases involving Punjab gangs and their ties to terror groups led to the arrest of feared gangsters Neeraj Bawana, Kaushal Choudhary, and Bhupinder Rana on Saturday.
An NIA spokesperson said Neeraj Sehrawat, alias ‘Neeraj Bawana’, of Delhi; Kaushal, alias ‘Naresh Chaoudhary,’ of Gurgaon, Haryana; and Bhupinder Singh, alias ‘Bhupi Rana,’ of Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar in Punjab, were arrested on Friday.
They registered an FIR against all three, and conducted raids last week in connection with two cases they took over from Delhi Police in connection with Sidhu Moosewala’s murder and gangs connected to it.
The NIA said: “The case involves criminal gangs involved in different types of criminal activities, including extortion to run and promote their criminal syndicates. Smuggling drugs and weapons were also how these gangs raised money for their criminal activities.”
NIA says Delhi Police’s Special Cell initially filed the case against eight named and several unnamed suspects. The conspiracy involved Indian and foreign criminal syndicates/gangs plotting terror attacks in Delhi.
A case was re-registered on August 26 and further investigations are underway, the NIA said.
Neeraj’s house in Bawana (Delhi) was raided by NIA on September 12, and several documents were seized, including some diaries, a source said. A few books on spirituality and Mossad and CIA secret operations were also found.”
Sources said a diary says Sunil, alias Tillu Tajapuriya, needs Rs 5 lakh; monetary transactions with Kaushal; Rs 2 lakh set for another jailed gangster, Naveen Bali; Rs 50,000 monthly to an associate who jumped parole; can recover Rs 30 crore from a property dispute involving land worth nearly Rs 100 crore in Delhi’s Model Town, etc. On one page of the diary, a message said “always carry a weapon as Deepak Pahal alias Boxer is still out and may attack”, the source said.
According to the source, the diary also mentions property collection amounts.
The Delhi Police had previously invoked the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in these cases. The UAPA was invoked against Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar, and Vikram Brar as well as members of rival gangs – Davinder Bambiha, Kaushal, Neeraj, Sunil alias Tillu Tajpuriya, Dilpreet, and Sukhpreet alias Budha – as well as Harvinder Rinda, an absconding militant suspected of murdering Moosewala.
Police said that the Special Cell had received information that both gangs procured illegal weapons from abroad in order to carry out targeted killings.
