Gangster Vikas Lagarpuria who is the prime accused in a multi-crore heist in Gurugram was arrested and his custody was handed over to the Special Task Force (STF) of the Haryana Police on Thursday. Lagarpuria is the prime accused in a `30-crore heist from a residential society in Gurugram.
According to sources, he was deported from Dubai while trying to flee from the Emirate where he had been hiding after his escape. Several cases of murder, robbery, kidnapping, and extortion have been lodged against the gangster in Delhi and Haryana. However, he was caught and was subsequently deported to India. Absconding for the past seven years, Lagarpuria had a Red Corner Notice issued against him by the Delhi Police.
However, later in the day, top STF officials claimed that Lagarpuria was arrested from the Delhi-Gurugram border. The officials said that an STF team led by Inspector Anil Kumar — the in-charge of the STF unit Gurugram — arrested the criminal after receiving a tip-off.
"During the preliminary interrogation, he introduced himself as Deepak a resident of Hissar. But on thorough interrogation of around two hours, he disclosed that his name was Vikas Lagarpuria," STF IG B Satheesh Balan told the media.
Lagarpuria, a native of Badli in the Jhajjar district of Haryana, had a reward of `2.50 lakh on his head. A reward of `2 lakh had been announced by the Delhi Police and `50,000 was declared by the Haryana police on his arrest. The criminal was involved in a theft of `30 crore that was reported on August 21, 2021. The money was stolen from the flat of Alpha G Corp Management Services Pvt. Ltd at Sector 84, Gurugram. The case was registered at the Kherki Daula Police Station in Gurugram.
The incident had taken place on August 4 of the previous year, when gangster Lagarpuriya’s gang members broke into a flat in Sector-82 from where the office of a private company was being run. They had decamped with crores of rupees in cash. Balan said at least 15 people, including henchmen of the gangster and a Delhi Police ASI, two doctors have been arrested, and `5.78 crore, including foreign currency and gold, has been recovered.
"As many as 24 criminal cases were registered against him, including those of murder, attempt to murder, robbery, extortion, and kidnapping in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. He was also booked under MCOCA," Balan said. An IPC officer and the then Deputy Commissioner of police (south) of the Haryana Police Dheeraj Setia has been accused of taking a bribe from Dr Suchender Jain Nawal to hush up the matter.
During the investigation, it was found that Lagarpuria, in connivance with another main accused, Dr Suchender Jain Nawal, had allegedly planned the heist. The investigation also revealed that the arrested ASI, Vikas Gulia, was Lagarpuria’s childhood friend and allegedly sheltered him from the Delhi Police,” the officials said."The IPS officer's lie detector test was conducted a week ago in Delhi and the report is awaited. Meanwhile, the arrested accused will be produced before a local court for further investigations," Balan added.
The officer said, "We are yet to get information about the remaining amount from the accused as the accused is frequently changing his statements and not cooperating with the investigation agency. The accused took more than two hours to disclose his identity."