The Hindu : New Delhi News : Inter-State gangsters held

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 25, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Inter-State gangsters held

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 24. The alleged leader of a notorious inter-State gang and his five associates were arrested by the Crime Branch of the Delhi police. The police recovered a stolen Honda City car, two stolen motorcycles and sophisticated arms and ammunitions from the accused who were allegedly planning the escape of their other leader from police custody in Haryana.

According to the police, the Inter-State Cell of the Crime Branch, led by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ravi Shankar, had laid a trap near Jhatikra crossing in Najafgarh this morning. But the team got information that the suspects had gathered near Chhawala pushta in Najafgarh. They rushed to the spot and managed to arrest the suspects after a long chase and exchange of fire. Constables Prahlad, Ram Kumar, Preet and Harinder played pivotal role in the operation which led to the arrest of six suspects. But two of them managed to escape. No one was injured in the incident.

The accused -- identified as Haridutt (22), Devdutt (22), Jogender (19), Gaurav Chauhan (21) and Vinod (21) -- were carrying a stengun, three pistols, two revolvers and 37 live cartridges. The Honda City and the two motorcycles were also seized.

Investigations revealed that Haridutt, one of the leaders of Sandeep-Haridutt gang, active mostly in Gurgaon, Haryana, was acting at the behest of Sandeep, who is lodged in Rohtak jail. Sandeep and his two associates, Manoj and Satinder, had earlier been arrested by the Crime Branch on March 28.

At Sandeep's instance, a police team raided a hideout in Mathura village to arrest Haridutt, but the villagers attacked the police team and he escaped. He managed to regroup his gang. Of late, Sandeep had been asking Haridutt to plan his escape from Rohtak jail.

On August 20, Sub-Inspector Naresh Sharma got a tip-off about the planned escape when Sandeep was to be produced in a Gurgaon court. Gurgaon and Rohtak police were informed following which a Haryana police team escorted Sandeep's jeep.

But there was no attempt to free Sandeep as expected. The police again came to know that the gang was planning Sandeep's release when his jail van would pass through Najafgarh-Gurgaon Road today. The team, however, foiled the plan even as the accused had gathered to carry out the operation.

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