Amit Shah-led Crackdown Helping Realise PM's Vision To End Organised Crime: Sources

To realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to end organised crime, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has been leading the crackdown on interstate gangs operating in Delhi-NCR and across the country that has resulted in bringing many dreaded criminals to justice, sources said on Wednesday.

Shah has also been advocating to make intelligence agencies such as the NIA and the ED stronger by giving them more powers to bring down criminal networks operating in and from outside the country, they said.

Shah has been holding regular review meetings and giving instructions to the police and other agencies from time to time, they said.

This has resulted in bringing many dreaded criminals and their organizations to justice in recent times, sources said.

The home minister had given specific instructions to the special units of the Delhi Police that they should legally pursue organised criminals and terrorists trying to hide in the country or abroad and bring them to justice, sources said.

Following these instructions, the Delhi Police has exhibited its special skills and exemplary investigation techniques, resulting in the arrest of 51 criminals belonging to criminal-terrorist nexus and seizing a huge cache of arms and ammunition, including AK-47s, MP-5, UBGL and hand grenades etcetera.

These 51 arrests have broken the backbone of the Rinda, Laanda and Arshdeep Dalla network which are based abroad and operating in Punjab, sources said.

The Delhi Police has helped its counterparts in neighbouring states by arresting top criminals.

For example, the juvenile accused in Mohali RPG attack in Punjab, the accused of killing witness (Pradeep Kataria) in Bargadi case, the accused (Deepak Tinu) in Sidhu Moosewala murder case who absconded from police custody, the accused of murder outside Nagaur court in Rajasthan, the accused of firing outside Nalagarh court in Himachal Pradesh and many other wanted criminals of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh have been arrested by the Delhi Police, the sources said.

The crime branch of the Delhi Police has made 217 arrests of middle-level criminals and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition.

Probably for the first time in the history of the Delhi Police, a dreaded fugitive criminal, Deepak Boxer is being brought back to India from Mexico, owing to an extensive, multi-continental joint police and administrative effort, sources said.

Besides, the National Investigation agency had registered three cases in August 2022 to dismantle terror-gangster-drug networks.

Investigations carried out so far have dealt a strong blow to these networks and their support infrastructure, sources said.

The investigations have also uncovered international and domestic connections between members of organised criminal syndicates, drug smugglers, and operatives of outfits such as Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), and other pro-Khalistani groups, which operate from India and abroad, they said.

The ongoing probe by the NIA includes incidents about the killing of Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh in Punjab, the sensational killing of Maharashtra builder Sanjay Biyani, and Sandeep Nangal Ambia, an international Kabbadi organiser.

During the NIA investigations, raids and searches were conducted at about 200 locations and hideouts in five rounds in seven states so far and more searches are planned, sources said.

A total of 27 persons have been arrested, 13 properties seized or attached, 95 bank accounts frozen, 20 Look Out Circulars (LOCs) and 24 Non Bailable Warrents (NBWs) have been opened following these searches and investigations and 95 bank accounts have been frozen, they said.

Ten immovable properties and three movable properties have been attached or seized too and 27 persons have been arrested in these cases. Charge sheets have been filed in two cases against 26 accused persons and further investigations are on.

The accused have been found involved in terror, violence and all kinds of criminal activities, including targeted hits, 'supari' killings and extortions from industrialists, businessmen and professionals, sources said.

The sensational crimes and extortion calls by these criminal syndicates had created a widespread scare and fear among the people across Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, UP, they said.

These gangs were using cyber-space to publicise their acts of terror and violence to spread fear and panic among the public at large, they said.

The NIA has found that many of these conspiracies to kill and extort were being hatched from inside jails of different states and were being executed by an organised network of operatives based abroad, sources said.

The NIA investigations also revealed that such criminal acts were not isolated local incidents but there was a deep-rooted conspiracy amongst terrorists, gangsters and drug smuggling cartels and networks, who were operating from both within and outside the country.

Many gang leaders and members have fled from India and are operating from foreign countries, including Pakistan, Canada, Malaysia, Australia etc, they said.

The NIA has seized a huge cache of 29 sophisticated weapons, 14 magazines, 825 rounds of ammunition and 395 digital devices and other incriminating material in raids at hundreds of locations in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chandigarh and Delhi in the case, sources said.