Law Catches Up With on the Run Delhi Most Wanted Gangster Neeraj Bawana; Arrested After 18 Months Long Chase

You Google ‘Neeraj Bawana’ only to find the long list of infamous mention of him:

ü  Cops nab nine members of the Neeraj Bawana gang

ü  Gangster Neeraj Bawana's mother, brother held at IGIA

ü  Police raid MLA Shokeen’s Nangloi house for gangster Neeraj Bawana

ü  Dreaded gangster arrested in Delhi after 21 years

ü  Delhi gangster killed in gangwar in Rani Bagh

ü  Neeraj Bawana’s gangmen eliminated Bawana bros

ü  Extortionists running rackets from behind bars as number of cases rises in Delhi

ü  Three business baiters to figure among Delhi's 'most wanted’

ü  Neeraj Bawana jumps bail

ü  Extortionist held for threatening Delhi Congress MLA

ü  Contract to kill Bharadwaj was given in Panipat

The most wanted and elusive gangster of Delhi has been apprehended by a team of Special Cell after having been on the run for over one and a half years. These one and a half years saw a massive effort being put in by various units of Delhi Police to trace this criminal but he remained beyond the reach of law owing to his immensely smart ways, movement and refuge strategies.

         Neeraj Bawana was on parole when on 26/10/2013, his old friend turned bitter foe Neetu Daboda, the then reigning don of Delhi, was killed in an encounter with Special Cell, which fired in self defence. Neeraj saw it as the best opportunity to assert himself and to take over from him.  However, Neeraj was much ahead of Neetu in terms of cunningness and realised that instead of taking on the Police directly the way Neetu had been operating, he needed his mama, a politician. This saw Neeraj spending a huge amount of illegal moneys earned by him and his syndicate into building his electoral fortunes.  With his systems in place, Neeraj rose meteorically in the Delhi underworld.  

             In the long standing triangular gang-war of the area for supremacy of turf between Neetu Dabodia (died in a Police encounter)/Paras @ Goldy (currently in jail) gang, Rajesh @ Karambeer gang (currently in jail) and Neeraj Bawana gang, the gang led by the elusive Neeraj Bawana had established itself as the most desperate outfit operating a syndicate of extortion and contract killings. The arrest/killing of all rival gangsters, the recent killing of one Pradeep Dahiya, a member of Neetu Daboda/Paras gang and the latest incident of escape from custody of Amit Mallick @ Bhura had given this gang an impression of having unrivalled edge over all other local gangs. He had become a major irritant to the peace and security of West, North-West and Outer Districts of Delhi.

 He had become the big extractor of ‘protection money’ from legitimate as well as illicit businesses operating within his territory of influence. Victims found it difficult to muster the courage to report to the Police about extortion being carried out by his henchmen.  Wherever his associates did get arrested, they only ended up strengthening his clout in the Tihar, Rohini, Nemka, Bhondsi, Meerut, Baghpat and Pauri jails spread across three different States and newer complaints of extortion business being run by his henchmen like Navin Bali @ Timepass or associates like Sunil Rathi came to be known.

               Neeraj Bawana was collecting a steady stream of money by systematized extortion from the DSIDC units operating in Narela and Bawana. He was also the prime protector of gambling and betting dens operating clandestinely within the areas of his influence. He had also ventured in land grabbing and real estate acquiring many benaami properties and was receiving a regular amount as rentals. With his clout, he had coerced many Small and Medium Industrial Units operating in Qamruddin Nagar area into creating and sustaining hideouts which he used on his visits to meet his associates. Even though his regular presence in the area was vouched for by many, none of them had an exact clue as to where and in which industrial unit Neeraj was located at a particular moment of time which could be of any assistance to the Police in tracking him.

All the while he was on the run, he kept orchestrating one after another heinous crimes including extortion, robberies and contract killings and with his association spreading far and wide, went on to challenge the Police forces of three States viz. Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi by orchestrating the sensational escape from custody of a desperate gangster Amit Malik @ Bhura who had escaped from Police custody of Uttarakhand Police while on his way to attend a court in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. The gang of Neeraj Bawana, fortified itself with the addition of Amit Mallick @ Bhura, who absconded along with two official AK-47 and one SLR assault rifles.

This led to a determined chase by three State Police forces for over three months to track down this elusive don but while many of his associates got arrested, the don himself remained unreachable, roaming all over North, Central and Western India, setting up bases and developing newer contacts.

A team of Special Cell had been tasked exclusively to track down this gangster. The team arrested nine members of the gang including Parwesh Mann @ Sagar on 6^th February, 2015, who had assembled in Outer Delhi’s Mundka area prior to the polling for the legislative assembly due on the 7^th February 2015 in order to exercise muscle power as a show of strength in favour of Ms. Reetav Shokeen, a Congress candidate and wife of a local politician and Ex. MLA. A total of five firearms and two four wheelers have been recovered from their possession. With these arrests, a determined effort to disrupt free and fair polls was successfully averted.

A Special Cell team further averted a certain courtroom tragedy on 30^th April, 2014 by apprehending and neutralising a gang of 10 criminals, who are associates of Neeraj Bawana-Naveen Baali gang who had come to District Court, Rohini to eliminate another criminal, belonging to the rival gang.

Another four criminals belonging to the gang were arrested in March, 2015 when one them Naveen@ Bali, lodged in Tihar jail, threatened a businessman for extortion money.

Soon after the escape of Amit @ Bhura, Special Cell arrested three associates of Neeraj Bawana, who had participated in freeing him from the custody of Uttrakhand Police.  This was followed up by arrest of four others in two separate operations.

The team of Special Cell tasked to track this don interrogated scores of victims, associates, arrestees and sympathizers and realized over a period of  time that Neeraj was, to almost all of them, an ‘enigma’ – a ‘ghostly figure’ and someone best described as ‘kab aata hai aur kab ghayab ho jaata hai, pata hi nahi chalta’. It was learnt that the gangster was observing ‘complete radio silence’ and was exploiting hitherto unheard loopholes in internet based communications which were meant to confuse even the most keen of observers in determining his real coordinates.

It was realized that ‘out of the box’ thinking alone would be of any use in the attempts to track down this fugitive gangster. And thus started a long drawn complex operation involving human intelligence,  newer ‘aerial surveillance’ and technical penetration which took long and painstaking efforts in collation and analysis.

The outcome of almost six months of sustained efforts was that the broad contours of the track being left behind by this gangster started becoming clearer to the Special Cell. Delhi, Meerut, Ranchi, Kolkata, Agra, Ahmadabad, Vadodara, Silvassa, Diu, Udaipur, Chandigarh, Rohtak etc. were the places where the don was passing through.  At no place was he was he found in touch with his known contacts, which made the task even more difficult. Even the vehicles he was using were learnt to be changing at a frenetic pace. Various small teams kept picking up vital clues to come to some sort of understanding of what was going on in his mind. This led to the discovery of a fully furnished rented flat taken by the don in Kolkata, his contacts with various property dealers and taxi operators in other cities and information platforms. The technological camouflaging being used by this fugitive don was of the highest order – while he would show as being in Kolkata, his actual position would be found to be in a place, say, Agra. The time lag which exists in the receipt and analysis of complex data associated with aerial surveillance was giving him the edge and he was always a good 24 to 48 hours ahead of the Police team which was trailing him at all the above mentioned places. However, the gangster could not match the efforts and investments made by the team trailing him in silently developing human resources at many of the places which were left behind him. One typical characteristic of the don discerned by trailing him for nearly three months was that once in a while, he did turn up in Delhi as it was imperative that his presence gets recorded amongst those whom his henchmen were terrifying into extortion. The vast network of informers paid the intended results when on 06/4/2015, a specific information was received in late evening hours that Neeraj would be coming to Qammaruddin Nagar at around midnight hours and would thereafter go to Bawana for meeting family members in a white Hyundai Verna car bearing registration number 4386. Immediately, a strong team was formed and briefed about the input. The team, duly armed and equipped with IO Kit and BP vests rushed to Main Rohtak Road, Qammaruddin Nagar, Delhi and laid a well thought out elaborate trap. In early morning hours of 07/04/2015, a white color Hyundai Verna car bearing number plate DL-8C-AF-4386 was spotted on the road from one of the vantage covering point of the trap and with quick relay of the information, a nakabadi using two Government vehicles was put up to close in upon the suspected vehicle. The suspect car moved towards Ranikheda-Karala road and after a brief chase, was cornered. The occupants of the car, two in number, attempted an escape by opening fire towards the advancing Police party. The Police party also fired in self-defence. To the good fortune, neither sides suffered any gunshot injury and after a brief scuffle, both the occupants were overpowered. The driver of the car was identified as Neeraj Sehrawat @ Neeraj Bawana and the co-passenger was identified as one Mohd Rashid Khan @ Guddu, s/o Mohd Mohiyuddin Khan, r/o B-48, Part I, Vishnu Garden, New Delhi.

One ‘Smith & Wesson Springfield’ make pistol and one another pistol with ‘US Made’ engraving were recovered from the apprehended accused persons along with live and spent cartridges. Under the circumstances, a case u/ss. 186/353/307/34 IPC read with ss. 25/27/54/59 Arms Act has been registered in this regard at PS Special Cell. He is also wanted in Case FIR No. 10/15 u/s 3/4 MCOC Act, PS Special Cell.  His brother Pankaj has already been arrested in the above case and is presently in police custody.

Brief Profile:

            Accused Neeraj Bawana was born in Village Bawana, Outer Delhi in 1988. His father Prem Singh is a Government employee in DTC and works as a bus conductor. At the age of 19 years, he was arrested for the first time in Bhiwani, Haryana. He never looked back and over the years, developed a formidable syndicate with tentacles spread over various States and including desperate criminals and gangsters like Naveen @ Bali @ Chhota @ Timepass, r/o Village Sultanpur Dabas, Delhi, Rahul @ Kala, r/o Village Sultanpur Dabas, Delhi, Pankaj, r/o Village Bawana, Delhi, Amit Malik @ Bhura, r/o Village Sarnavli, District Baghpat, UP, Sunil Rathi, r/o Village Tikri Doghat, District Baghpat, UP, and many others. Over the years that he rose in the hierarchy of crime world, he befriended, waylaid and killed many gangsters and local criminals.

             A brief of some of the criminal involvements of Neeraj Bawana is as mentioned below:

·         In February 2012, Neeraj Bawana @ Neetu orchestrated a criminal conspiracy to extort money from one Narender Singhal @ Pappu, an industrialist of DSIIDC, Bawana Delhi. The complainant had reported of extortion threats from one ‘Kala’of Sultanpur, later identified as Rahul Dabas @ Kala. In this regard, a case vides FIR No.53/12, u/ss. 385/387/506/507/120-B/34 IPC was registered at PS Bawana, Delhi. During the course of investigation, Rahul Ladpuriya and Manjeet @ Mangal were arrested who disclosed that they had threatened Narender Singhal on the behest of Naveen @ Bali and Neeraj Bawana @ Neetu. Later, accused Naveen @ Bali, &Neeraj Bawana and Rahul @ Kala were arrested in this case.

·         In the month of February 2012, Naveen Bali, at the instance of Neeraj Bawana, had threatened a businessman namely Sunil Goel of Bawana, Delhi on his mobile phone & forced him to shell out Rs 50 Lakhs as protection money. On this incident, a case vides FIR No.77/12, u/ss. 385/387/ 506/507/120-B/34 IPC was registered at PS Bawana, Delhi. During the course of investigation, Rahul Ladpuriya and Manjeet @ Mangal were arrested who disclosed that they had threatened Sunil Goel and made extortion call for Rs 50 Lakhsat the behest of Naveen @ Bali and Neeraj Bawana @ Neetu. Later, it was also reported that one Sonu @ Ajay, another gang member, had extorted further Rs 15 Lakhs from the complainant. Accused Neeraj Bawana, Naveen Bali & Ajay @ Sonu were arrested in this case.

·            In the month of February 2012, Naveen Bali had informed his associates namely Manjeet, Rahul Ladpuriya, Surender, Suresh & Bhupinder that a message had been conveyed to the proprietor of M/s Pardesi property dealer for paying Rs. 35 Lakhs as protection money but he was showing resistance. The henchmen were directed to approach the office of Pardesi properties to extend threat and to open fire in the said office so as to compel the proprietor to meet the demand. On 28/02/2012, the henchmen went for their rendezvous & threatened the persons sitting inside the office by firing some rounds and fled away. Upon this, a case vides FIR No. 98/12, u/ss.  307/452/506/212/120B/34 IPC & 25/27 A. Act was registered at PS Prashant Vihar, Delhi. During the course of investigation, accused Neeraj, Naveen, Manjeet, Sabinder @ Pagal, Suresh, Virender & Bhupinder were arrested and the vehicle used in commission of this offence i.e. a Maruti Alto Car No DL-2CAK-2530 was also seized.

·         In March 2012, Neeraj Bawana along with his gang members made a call to one Anoop Goel, an industrialist of DSIIDC, Bawana, Delhi demanding Rs. 3 Lakhs as protection money. Upon this, a case vides FIR No.99/12,u/ss. 385/387/506/507/120-B/34 IPC was registered at PS Bawana, Delhi. During the course of investigation, Vivek @ Balle and Ravinder @ Paua were arrested. Subsequently, Pankaj was also arrested & a car used in the commission of offence i.e. Santro car No DL-2CAM-4939 was also seized. Later, one Naveen @ Jonny was also arrested who had allegedly made the extortion call to the complainant at the behest of Neeraj Bawana. The remaining accused Deepak @ Deepa was also arrested and all six accused persons were charge sheeted in the case.

·         In May 2012, Satinder, s/o Jaswant Rana, the then MLA from Narela constituency received a threatening call demanding Rs. 50 Lakhs as protection money. The caller introduced himself as Neeraj Bawana. In this regard, a case vide FIR 180/12, u/ss. 387/506 (2)/420/465/471/474/120-B/34 IPC was registered at PS Samay Pur Badli, Delhi. During the course of investigation, accused Narender, Parvesh, Rajesh, Neeraj Bawana& Suresh Kala were arrested.

·         In May 2012, Neeraj Bawana again made a threatening call through his associates to one Dr. Dinesh Modi, owner of Soham Hospital Bawana Delhi for either making him a partner in his hospital or to pay up Rs. 25 lakhs as protection money. On this, a case vides FIR No. 179/12, u/ss. 385/506/507/34 IPC was registered at PS Bawana, Delhi. Neeraj Bawana, Rahul @ Kala & Deepak @ Deepa were arrested and Rahul @ Kala was identified by the complainant during TIP proceedings. The mobile phone used in making extortion call was also recovered.

·         In May 2012, one Shiv Kumar, Ex-Pardhan of Village Barana Sadar, Panipat, Haryana reported that Suresh @ Kala, a resident of the same village & his associates, at the instance of Neeraj Bawana, had extended threats to grab a piece of 80 acre land of the gram sabha. They had intercepted & damaged his car and threatened him with dire consequences at gun point. Upon this, a case vides FIR No 192/12,u/ss. 148/149/341/427/506 IPC & 25 Arms Act was registered at PS Sadar, Panipat, Haryana. During the course of investigation, accused Rakesh, Sachin, Inderpal, Kuldeep, Tejbir, Sanjay, Parveen, Ankur, Parveen Kala, Suresh Kala &Neeraj Bawana were arrested & charge-sheeted.

·         In continuing crime saga, the above mentioned Shiv Kumar, Ex-Pardhan of Village Barana Sadar, Panipat, Haryana was coerced for grabbing a piece of 80 acre land situated in village Barana. Suresh Kala & his associates including Neeraj Bawana went to the house of Shiv Kumar on 19/05/2012 & opened fire. In this firing, Shiv Kumar managed to escape but one Sada Singh died & the wife of Ex-Pardhan sustained bullet injuries. In this regard, a case vides FIR No 194/12, u/ss. 148/149/307/302/120-B IPC & 25 Arms Act was registered at PS Sadar, Panipat, Haryana. During the course of investigation, accused Rakesh, Gopi, Sachin, Inderpal, Sanjay, Tejbir, Parveen, Ankur, Suresh Kala &Neeraj were arrested & charge sheeted.

·         In March 2010, one Ramanand, Assistant Superintendent of Cenral Jail No. 1,Tihar, Delhi had reported that 3 under trial prisoners namely Neeraj Bawana, Sombir & Pardeep, who were lodged in ward No. 6 of E block of the said jail, had, during a search process, obstructed public servants & caused hurt by using criminal force to deter them from discharging their official duties. Upon this, a case vides FIR No 69/10, u/ss. 186/353/332/34/174-A IPC was registered at PS Hari Nagar, Delhi. All the accused were arrested and charge sheeted in the case.

·         In July 2011, Neeraj Bawana along with his 12 associates went to the Jhajjar District Court, Haryana to eliminate some members of a rival gang who were also prosecution witnesses in another case of murder in gang rivalry registered vide FIR No. 267/08, u/ss. 365/302/201/120-B/34 IPC & 25 Arms Act, PS Sampla, Harayana against Neeraj& his associates. But the plan was thwarted by a secret informer of the local police who accosted two accused persons namely Dharmender & Sunil with firearms while remaining accused persons managed to escape from the spot. In this regard, a case vides FIR No 437/11, u/ss. 148/149/120-B IPC & 25 Arms Act was registered at PS Jhajjar, Haryana. During the course of investigation, accused persons Ajay, Naveen Bali, Baljeet, Inderjeet, Aman, Dinesh, Satish, Sombir, Mahipal, Jagat Singh &Neeraj Bawana were arrested & charge sheeted.

·         In June 2012, Neeraj Bawana was apprehended with a sophisticated weapon from the area of PS Prashant Vihar, Delhi. A case vides FIR No. 234/12,u/s. 25/27 Arms Act was registered in this regard.

·         In March 2013, there was secret information with the officials of AATS, Crime Branch Delhi Police that at the instance of Neeraj Bawana, his gang members planned to get one of his associates namely Vikas Lagarpuriya released from police custody while he would be taken to Dwarka Court, Delhi. To apprehend these persons, a trap was laid at the gate of Dwarka Court Complex & four persons namely Ravi Monia, Pankaj, Nizam & Vikas were arrested while in possession of 3 sophisticated weapons. In this regard, a case vides FIR No 40/13, u/ss. 186/353/120-B/34 IPC & 25/27 Arms Act was registered at PS Crime Branch, Delhi. During the course of investigation, accused Rahul @ Kala &Neeraj Bawana were arrested for providing assistance & for hatching conspiracy in this case.

·         During his period of absconding from law, Neeraj Bawana hatched a conspiracy to liquidate one Pardeep Dahiya, who had become a new leader of his rival gang after the death of Neetu Daboda. In the month of August2014, Neeraj along with his brother Pankaj made a plan to elicit Pardeep Dahiya to walk into a trap. For this, one Manish Singla, an associate of Pradeep Dahiya was selected as the bait. The gang members namely Monu @ Aryan, Naveen Bhanja, Ashok, Raghu @ Amarjeet, Parvesh & Pardeep @ Kitty were provided an I-20 car No DL-2C-AR-2124, two mobile phones & four pistols by Neeraj Bawana& his brother Pankaj. In the intervening night of 23/24.08.2014, Pardeep @ Kitty &Parvesh informed other members of the gang that they had manipulated a quarrel with Manish Singla through one Nikhil. Both the parties would be reaching the local police station Rani Bagh where Pardeep Dahiya would be expected to arrive to help Manish Singla. As per plan, Monu @ Aryan, Naveen Bhanja, Ashok, Raghu @ Amarjeet positioned themselves in front of PS Rani Bagh Delhi. After sometime, Pardeep Dahiya along with Anil @ Leela, Anshul, Anju @ Ajay &Sonu @ Kala reached PS Rani Bagh in a Mitsubishi Pajero car. After making an eye contact with Pardeep Dahiya, associates of Neeraj started their I-20 car &moved towards Pitampura. An alerted Pardeep Dahiya intercepted their I-20 car at some distance and a shootout followed wherein Neeraj Banana’s associates succeeded in killing Pardeep Dahiya & Anil @ Leela. In the ensuing investigations, accused Monu @ Aryan, Pardeep @ Kitty, Ashok & Raghu @ Amarjeet were arrested while Neeraj Bawana and others are running wanted.

·         In the latest incident, Neeraj& his brother Pankaj hatched a conspiracy at the behest of Sunila Rathi and roped in Arvind, Pramod, Monu Tyagi, Naveen Bhanja etc. to manage the escape of Amit Malik @ Bhura from the custody of Uttrakhand Police while being brought to Baghpat for court appearance. On 14/12/2014, Neeraj Bawana through his associates attacked upon the police party escorting Amit Bhura and helped the escape of Amit Bhura from the custody of Uttrakhand Police. The gang also looted two assault rifles and one SLR from the escort party of Uttrakhand Police. A case vides FIR No. 1072/2014, u/ss. 147/148/149/ 395/397/120B/120B/34 IPC was registered at PS Kotwali, Baghpat, UP.