nThe Special Task Force (STF) of the Haryana police arrested five members of an inter-State gang after a brief exchange of fire from Dharuhera, in Rewari district on Wednesday night.
The police have recovered four illegal pistols of .32 bore, one 9mm pistol, 1 country made pistol, 10 live cartridges, four empty cells, Rs 49, 70,000 and 2 snatched cars from their possession.
The gang was involved in several cases of murder, kidnapping, loot and vehicle snatching in Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana.
The kingpin of the gang Joginder Singh alias Panchi (34) was carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 announced by the Haryana police.
The other gang members have been identified as Shiv Kumar alias Sibba (28) of Panipat District, Deepak (20) of Sonipat district, Kamal Malik (19) and Amitesh alias Boxer of Panipat district.
STF Inspector General of Police (IGP), K.K Rao said: “Acting on a tip-off the STF nabbed the criminals from Dharuhera area, in Rewari district after a brief exchange of fire.”
During the preliminary interrogation, the gang confessed their involvement in 19 cases of murder, attempt to murder, loot and snatching.
According to the STF, the gang members recently kidnapped Shreyas, a son of Doctor SP Yadav, who is also an owner of a private hospital in Gurugram and had demanded Rs 50 lakh as ransom.
“The gang usually used snatched vehicles to commit crimes. They offered lifts to the victims after which they snatched their valuables and withdrew money from their ATMs. In February 2019 the gang had kidnapped a person in Gurugram and recovered Rs 95,000 as ransom amount,” Rao, said.
“Joginder had eliminated an Advocate along with Rohtak based Sandeep Badwasni gang in 2017. The accused wanted to kill a Sarpanch of Bhadra village in Rajasthan to take revenge for his brother murder in 2016,” he said.
“Joginder was one of the most wanted criminals and was changing his locations to avoid his arrest. He was involved in several heinous crimes. Further probe into the matter is underway,” Rao said.