Hawala Operator Among 7 Held For Extortion Network Tied To Wanted Gangsters

Seven people, including a Delhi-based hawala operator allegedly working for wanted gangsters Deepak Nandal and Himanshu Bhau, were arrested with arms and ammunition for allegedly extorting businessmen, realtors and music producers across multiple states and transferring the money to the duo abroad, police said Wednesday.

Police said the suspects operated in Gurugram and other districts of Haryana, Delhi-NCR, western Uttar Pradesh and parts of Rajasthan. The arrests were made across Haryana, including Gurugram, between August 8 and August 12. All were aged 30 to 35.

The arrests came less than a month after police neutralised four Nandal gang shooters in a gunbattle in Sushant Lok Phase-I on July 9 after they allegedly opened fire at a businessman’s house over non-payment of extortion money.

Police said Chandni Chowk was the gang’s transactional base, from where its hawala operator allegedly transferred money collected in India to Nandal and Bhau, who were hiding abroad. Four pistols, 18 live cartridges, six phones and a torn currency note allegedly used to secure a hawala transaction were recovered.

ACP (crime) Lalit Dalal said the arrests followed a tip-off about extortion attempts after an organised crime FIR was registered at DLF police station, Sector-29. “Based on it, all the arrests were made. The arrested members were responsible for identifying potential targets and gathering their phone numbers and helping other members in carrying out reconnaissance of their residences and offices,” he said.

“The gang was targeting Bollywood and Haryanvi music industry producers, fashion designers, builders, businessmen and other big-time traders living in their operational area to extort several crores of money from them,” he said.

“They were in touch with Nandal and Bhau via social media and acted on the duo’s direction for extorting money and opening fire to terrorise those who didn’t obey. More members of the gang will be arrested soon,” he said.

Police said four arrested suspects have 29 criminal cases involving murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, the Arms Act, drug smuggling and the Prison Act in Haryana and Delhi.