The Hindu : Five members of Anoop gang arrested

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 10, 2003

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Five members of Anoop gang arrested

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI JAN. 9 .Five suspected members of the Anoop gang who were allegedly planning to eliminate Krishan Pahelwan, a rival gang leader, were arrested from Dwarka in South-West Delhi by the Inter-State Cell of the Crime Branch on Tuesday. A Honda City car, two Delhi police uniforms and ammunitions were recovered from their possession. According to the Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, U.K. Katna, the Inter-State Cell had been on their trail for the past couple of months.

Acting on a tip-off that some members of the Anoop gang were in Dwarka, a team led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ravi Shankar, laid a trap. Around 8-30 p.m., the team spotted a Honda City with Haryana registration number plate. The sleuths waived at the driver to stop the car, but he sped. However, the vehicle got stuck in a pothole while negotiating a U-turn at Sector 12, Dwarka.

The police team intercepted the car after which those in the Honda City opened fire. However, no one was injured. The police overpowered the five occupants and recovered three Chinese pistols, one country-made weapon, six extra magazines, 62 live cartridges and two empties from them. During interrogation, the criminals identified themselves as Narender, Satish, Dharamveer, Anil and Joginder and members of the gang headed by Anoop who is at present lodged in Tihar Jail. They claimed that they were planning to eliminate Krishan Pehalwan -- lodged in Rohtak Jail -- during his way to a Delhi court. They were also planning to buy a truck for intercepting the police van carrying Krishan .

At their instance, the Crime Branch also recovered one automatic carbine and 30 cartridges with an extra magazine from the hideout in Sushant Lok, Gurgaon. Two Delhi police uniforms stitched by Mishra Tailor of Sarogini Nagar were also seized.

The five disclosed that they used to procure arms from Dimpy, a resident of Faridkot in Punjab, who is involved in kidnapping cases in Bangalore. The same person used to provide weapon to the infamous thief, Bunty, who was arrested by the South Delhi police last year. Sources said the arrests have in a way saved Krishan Pehalwan's life. It is alleged that while most members of the Anoop gang have been neutralised, Krishan managed to garner support from influential Haryana politicians to shield himself from attacks from the rival Anoop gang.

The genesis of this gang war can be traced way back to 1992 when the Krishan Pehalwan gang challenged the supremacy of the Narender- Balraj gang in the tender mafia world and real estate business, when most members of Narender gang were lodged in jail since 1992. This led to a bloody war between the two gangs in which several members from both sides were killed.

Another related gang war broke between Balraj's family and Kapil's family in Mitraun village over a land despite, following which Kapil joined Krishan gang to take revenge. Meanwhile, after being released from jail in 1998, Balraj started threatening Krishan and Kapil's family, which led to a clash.

In June 2002, one of the members of Anoop gang, Satish, came out on an interim bail on the pretext of attending his brother's marriage. He and his accomplices started strengthening the group by recruiting young men. In December 2002, they mounted a murderous assault on Baru and Joginder, members of Krishan gang.

Commending the work done by the Inter-State Cell, Mr. Katna said these arrests would prevent any further clashes for a while.

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