Four members of jailed gangster Sundar Bhati’s gang arrested by Greater Noida police
One of the four suspects is a weapons supplier, and all of them were identified as Bhati’s gang members by the Uttar Pradesh police
The Greater Noida police on Friday night arrested four members of jailed gangster Sundar Bhati’s gang from Dankaur in Greater Noida, officers said on Saturday, adding that a cache of sophisticated weapons was recovered from them as well. One of the suspects was arrested amid stone pelting and air firing from his family members, said police. Police said that a fifth man was also arrested, an associate of Sandeep Nagar named Ashok Sharma, under the same charges.
According to SM Khan, deputy commissioner of police, Greater Noida, one of the four suspects is a weapons supplier, and all of them were identified as Bhati’s gang members by the Uttar Pradesh police.
He said that police received a tip-off on Friday evening about the movement of three members of the gang. “Acting on the tip, a joint team of Greater Noida police and Swat (Special Weapons and Tactics) team arrested the three suspects from Galgotiyas University intersection near the Yamuna Expressway around 8pm on Friday. They were identified as Nitin Badhpura, 28, Dinesh Ghanghola, 40, and Rinku Narauli, 30. We also recovered three pistols and four guns from the suspects as well as a Maruti Swift car,” said Khan.
He said that all three suspects were history sheeters who were involved with Bhati’s illegal business of extortion and stealing iron rebars from industrialists.
“Nitin Badhpura is an absconding suspect named in the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Pandit, who was shot dead in Dadri in June 2014. He has more than 30 criminal cases registered against him while Ghanghola and Narauli have at least 20 cases registered against them across western UP districts, under extortion, murder, attempt to murder and robbery charges,” said a senior officer of the Swat team.
“During interrogation, the suspects told that these weapons were provided to them by another member of the gang, Sandeep Nagar, 48. A police team jointly raided Sandeep Nagar’s house in Junaidpur ki Madhaiya. Nagar’s house was fortified, surrounded by 14-foot walls topped with barbed wires. Still, the police managed to take Nagar into custody and recovered a bulletproof Mahindra Scorpio, one pistol, one rifle and an airgun pistol,” said the DCP.
Khan said that the operation to arrest Nagar was a challenging one. As the police were taking Nagar to the police van, the team faced heavy opposition from Nagar’s family members. “Nagar’s family members pelted stones at us and fired in the air. At least 25 people have been identified who attempted to obstruct police from arresting Nagar and action will be taken against them,” said Khan, adding that the police were able to end the operation without any injuries to civilians or officers or property damage.
The DCP said that the four arrested suspects have been booked under relevant sections of the Arms Act and an FIR has been registered at Dankaur police station. “They were produced before a local court in Greater Noida and sent to judicial custody,” said Khan.
Earlier last year, Uttar Pradesh Police released a list of the most wanted gangsters where the name of Sundar Bhati is listed. According to officials, Sundar Bhati is lodged in the Sonbhadra district jail and has 62 criminal cases registered against him, including those of extortion, robbery, murder and Arms Act, at various police stations across western Uttar Pradesh. He was awarded a life term by the Gautam Budh Nagar district court in 2021 for the murder of Harendra Pradhan in Dadopur, Dankaur in 2015. Pradhan was the brother of Ravi Kana alias Ravinder Nagar, who was arrested by the Greater Noida police in April and is lodged in Gautam Budh Nagar district jail in Luksar. Sundar Bhati’s nephew Anil Bhati is also lodged in the same jail since being arrested in 2019.
To avoid a gang war in jail between Kana and Bhati’s gangs, the four arrested suspects have been kept in a separate barrack, said jail officials. “Kana is lodged in a special security jail while the four suspects will be lodged in a separate barrack,” said a jail official.