Self baptised as Extortion King
Rajesh Bawania, a self-styled Al Capone of the Capital who had virtually established an ‘extortion industry’ in NCR, used to give his complete introduction to all his victims so that he could rule Delhi’s crime world by spreading terror through word of mouth. Delhi Police Special Cell was tracking him and they tasted success after they arrested Bawania from Rohini area of Outer district on Wednesday evening.
Rajesh, alias Bawania was arrested along with four of his associates following a brief encounter and a chase with the Special Cell of Delhi Police in Outer Delhi’s Rohini area. Police will now book him and his associates under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). “He wanted to take over the top slot in Delhi’s crime world, which was vacated by Neetu Dabodia who was killed in an encounter with Special Cell in October 2013. He wanted his name to become synonymous with terror. He gave his victims a lowdown on who he was by divulging his name, father’s name and address,” said Special Commissioner (Special Cell) SN Shrivastava.
He carried a bounty of Rs3 lakh on his head and was wanted by police forces of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in at least 45 cases. “He had, in a way, set up an extortion industry, by trying to spread terror and used the fear acquired through this process to extort money from businessmen and other wealthy persons,” he said. Police recovered 11 firearms from the five accused which include a countrymade rifle of .315 bore fitted with magazine and five cartridges. The Scorpio car in which the gang was travelling was also found to be stolen from Sonepat, Haryana and it has been seized.
According to police, Rajesh entered the crime world in 2005 and till he was last arrested in March 19 this year had committed 24 heinous crimes. He had got bail on April 24 and within four days of being released he murdered one Ravinder, alias Pauva of Bawana in Bawana Industrial Area. “In the short span from April 24 till November 5 (Wednesday), he committed 20 further crimes. Rajesh and his associates, identified as Ravi Dahiya, alias lamba, Jaideep Dahiya, Rahul Dabas, alias Maya and Sandeep Dahiya will now be booked under MCOCA. Ravi too is a history-sheeter and a cash reward of Rs2 lakh was declared on his arrest by Haryana Police,” said Shrivastava.
Crimes committed by Rajesh include murder, attempt to murder, robbery, extortion in Delhi and NCR. In view of his meteoric rise in the crime world and his spiraling crime graph, several police teams in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were close on his heels. The other weapons recovered from the accused are one foreign made revolver of .32 bore with six cartridges, one foreign made revolver of .455 bore with 16 cartridges, one steel colour pistol of 30 bore with 12 live cartridges, one pistol with engraving ‘Made in Italy’ of 9 mm with 10 live cartridges, two country made Pistols of 12 bore with
24 live cartridges and four countrymade pistols of .315 bore with 11 live cartridges. “Six of these weapons were found in a bag from the car. We are investigating whether these arms were meant to be supplied to someone,” said Shrivastava.
On June 23, Rajesh along with his associates lalit had even fired upon a Tihar Jail warden named Ravinder in Bahadurgarh, Haryana as he held a grudge against him during his jail term. A Special Cell team received a tip-off about the movement of Rajesh, alias Karambir and his accomplices to a place near a helipad on Pooth Khurd-Barwala Road, Rohini on Wednesday following which a trap was laid. At about 4.50 pm, a Scorpio car was spotted.
When the SUV was signalled to stop, the occupants of the vehicle tried to speed away. The police team chased it and upon being intercepted, the occupants fired on the police party. The police team fired back at the gangsters in self-defence. Fortunately no one sustained injuries and all the five suspects were apprehended. The Scorpio was also found to have been stolen from the area of Kundli, Sonepat (Haryana). A reward of Rs1 lakh was declared by Delhi police and a reward of Rs2 lakh was declared by Haryana Police for arrest Rajesh.