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Hindustan Times
3 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Gangsters lure jobless Haryana youth with money for their extortion biz
Gangsters settled abroad are luring Haryana youngsters with easy money and selling them dollar dreams to expand their extortion network in the state. It was the Radaur case and murder of liquor contractor Shantanu in Shahabad that led to the police encounter with Romil Vohra, a Yamunanagar native who worked as a hitman for Noni Rana, said a cop. (HT File) From promising expensive watches to help in fighting criminal cases and offering to settle them in foreign countries, the gangsters use Haryanvis, aged between 18 and 30 years, to do their bidding, say investigators probing recent cases of murder and extortion. 'The recent arrest of two local youngsters involved in the firing at Aman Dhaba in Kurukshetra district's Shahabad town highlights this worrying trend of foreign-based gangsters luring unemployed youth into criminal activities, particularly in the northern districts of Haryana,' said Wasim Akram, the superintendent of police (SP), special task force (STF). 'In the last few days, we have arrested at least 18 such operatives influenced by foreign handlers through social media apps. Their interrogation has revealed that these jobless men are used for arranging arms, conducting recce, providing logistical help, making cash deals, driving vehicles for firing in the air to scare the extortion target. These youngsters don't have criminal history,' he said at a recent press conference in Karnal. However, Akram said, the arms recovered were found to be sophisticated. 'The weapons are being smuggled into Punjab via drones from Pakistan,' he said. The youngsters are paid anything from ₹5000 to ₹20,000, depending on the risk involved and their experience, police officials probing the extortion cases in various districts, said. North Haryana's foreign link Many of the gangsters operate remotely from Canada, the US and Portugal besides other countries in Europe and use social media apps like Whatsapp, Telegram and Instagram to communicate with their local contacts. Investigators believe extortion cases are on the rise in north Haryana as a growing number of youngsters have settled abroad in search of jobs and it becomes easy for the gangsters there to arrange logistical help through their associates back in their native villages and towns. 'The local youngsters get caught in a cycle of violence as they are paid half the money and promised the pending amount for the next task. They are told that they're being used for small tasks and will never get caught until they realise it's too late. They are dumped by their handlers, who in turn change their location and become unavailable for them,' an IPS officer involved in the probe said, requesting anonymity. Ganging up against vulnerable targets The gangsters target immigration centre owners, liquor traders, commission agents, mobile traders or any merchant that they believe is earning much, for extortion threats, the investigators said. A senior police officer in Yamunanagar said that over the past year, gangster Surya Pratap, alias Noni Rana, was linked to all extortion-related firings in the district, including three immigration centres in Bilaspur and Jagadhari, a liquor store and vends in Jagadhri and Yamunanagar towns besides the triple murder in Radaur. 'It was the Radaur case and murder of liquor contractor Shantanu in Shahabad that led to the police encounter with Romil Vohra, a Yamunanagar native who worked as a hitman for Noni Rana,' said the cop. Noni Rana is the younger brother of gangster Virender Pratap, alias Kala Rana, from Yamunanagar. Kala, who was the member of the Lawrence Bishnoi-Goldy Brar-Kala Jathedi gangster syndicate, was extradited from Thailand in 2022 and is in a Delhi-NCR jail. The STF said Noni was running his brother's gang and making extortion calls to mining dealers, plywood traders and politicians in the region before he fled abroad on a fake passport after walking out of the Ambala central jail in 2023. In the past six months, Karnal residents Bhanu Rana and Kaka Rana, both settled abroad, have made extortion calls to immigration centre owners, mobile traders, a doctor and a jeweller in Karnal district. 'They work in alignment with Noni Rana,' said a cop with the STF. The Bhanu Rana gang was behind last month's case in Karnal when two men were arrested by the STF near National Highway-44 with two hand-grenades that they were taking to another city to be used against a target, it was learnt. A south Haryana-based gang led by Kaushal Chaudhary has also entered the northern districts. 'Kaushal, a native of Gurugram, is currently jailed in Bhondsi and his gang is being run by Shokeen, who is settled abroad. Another gangster from the region is Venkat Garg from Ambala. He was behind the killing of BSP leader Harbilas in Naraingarh in February, after which he fled abroad. Though he is currently alone, he is in touch with the Ranas,' the STF cop quoted above, said. STF ensured extradition of 10 most-wanted gangsters The STF has arrested 58 criminals carrying awards on their head, 101 gangsters, and 178 heinous offenders so far this year. State director general of police (DGP) Shatrujeet Kapur said the STF has leveraged technology, analytical capabilities, and human resources to not only dismantle criminal strongholds but also to fight organised and cyber crime. Former STF IGP Simardeep Singh, who was transferred recently, said police personnel have been equipped with specialised training and techniques, including dark web analysis and identifying cyber indicators, as investigation tools. 'The STF has firmly taken on the challenge of criminals operating abroad. The RCN–LOC cell at the STF headquarters, in coordination with central agencies, has successfully ensured the extradition/deportation of 10 most-wanted gangsters through look out circulars (LOCs), red corner notices (RCNs), Interpol references, passport revocations, and provisional arrest requests,' he added.
Hindustan Times
3 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Man abducted, beaten to death by ‘school friends' in Gurugram; 7 arrested
A 22-year-old man was beaten to death by seven people he was acquainted with since his school days over a dispute in Faridabad, police said on Tuesday, adding that six suspects and one minor were apprehended in connection with the crime. Police said victim Akash Patel, a resident of Prem Nagar in Sector 8, was returning home on July 12 when he was abducted by the group.(HT Photo/Representational) The attackers also recorded a five-minute-long video of the incident and posted it on social media, police said. Police said victim Akash Patel, a resident of Prem Nagar in Sector 8, was returning home on July 12 when he was abducted by the group. According to the police, the suspects pushed Patel into a Maruti Eeco at the Sector 7/8 intersection, took him to Uncha village near Sector 65 in Ballabhgarh and brutally assaulted him. They dumped him on the roadside and fled, and passersby alerted the police control room upon spotting Patel lying in a pool of blood. Police said he was admitted to Badshah Khan Civil Hospital and later shifted to a private hospital in NIT-5 locality, where he succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday evening. Yashpal Yadav, Faridabad police public relations officer, said that two prime accused, Mohammad Sohail and Sahil Kumar, both aged 22 years, were arrested on Tuesday while five other suspects—Tarif Khan, Vikas Kumar, Suraj Kumar, Mohammad Altaf, and a juvenile—were taken into custody immediately after the incident. 'The deceased and the suspects were school friends. However, a dispute took place between them in an inebriated condition while attending a wedding five months ago. Since then, all seven suspects developed enmity with Patel,' he said. On a complaint from Patel's mother, an assault case was initially registered at the Sector 7 police post. Murder charges were added after Patel's death on Tuesday.
Hindustan Times
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
The Yashpal Kapur story, his legacy in Raebareli and how today's generation hardly remembers him
Yashpal Kapur with former PM Indira Gandhi (Picture provided by Kapur's son Ashok Kapur) He was in his early 20s when Ram Sewak Chaudhary travelled for the first time outside his hamlet of Rae Bareli. It was the late 1960s, and Chaudhary was in Delhi with his friends. The group was walking past the PM's then residence on Safdarjung Road when they noticed a clot of farmers waiting to meet then PM Indira Gandhi. Intrigued, they too joined the queue and were ushered into a big hall where Gandhi spent a few minutes with the whole group. Upon learning that the young men were from Rae Bareli, her family pocket borough, she called for her aide from the region, a man in his 40s. That was the first time Chaudhary met Yashpal Kapur, then Gandhi's private secretary. 'It seemed Kapur was among the most powerful men in that room,' said Chaudhary, sitting in a small two-room house in ITI colony of Rae Bareli. Now 78, Chaudhary remembered Kapur coming down to Rae Bareli in 1970, talking to local Congress leaders for the upcoming 1971 elections, spending nights at the local party office and beginning the canvassing process for Indira Gandhi. 'His contacts were a niche set of Congress leaders,' said Chaudhary. 'Kapur was the eyes and ears of Indira ji,' said Shiv Manohar Pandey, a local expert. That would prove to be a turning point in Indian democracy. Four years after she won the Rae Bareli parliamentary election by 110,000 votes, Indira Gandhi's victory was voided by a momentous Allahabad high court judgment that precipitated the Emergency. HT looks back at the life and work of the man who was at the centre of this crisis. Kapur was born in Rawalpindi in 1929 and finished his schooling in the erstwhile undivided India. He joined the external affairs ministry as a stenographer in 1954-55. 'Pandit ji then retained my father as an assistant private secretary. His role continued till 1960. Then my father was attached with Indira ji; in 1962, when Indira ji contested elections, my father looked after her administrative office. Over a period of time, my father became an officer-on-special duty,' said his son Ashok Kapur, a Delhi-based businessman. As the 1971 elections approached, Kapur left the secretariat to become Indira Gandhi's election agent for Rae Bareli. For his services, he was rewarded with a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh in 1972, and he served in the Upper House till 1978. But his role during the 1971 election campaign came under the scanner when Indira Gandhi's then vanquished opponent, Raj Narain, filed a petition in the high court, accusing the then PM of corrupt practices. Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha threw out most of the charges, but found two credible – one that Kapur and other officials such as the then district magistrate arranged rostrums, loudspeakers, barricades and police posting during an election tour; and that Indira Gandhi used the service of a gazetted officer, as Kapur was before he resigned, to make election speeches. The case hinged on the date Kapur resigned. He submitted his resignation from the post of officer on special duty on January 13, 1971 and a notification was issued on January 25, 1971. He was appointed Indira Gandhi's election agent on February 4, 1971. But the high court found that Kapur delivered election speeches on January 7, 1971 and January 19, 1971 – before his resignation was officially accepted. This, the judgment held, put Indira Gandhi afoul of the Representation of the People Act, a contention later upheld by the Supreme Court on June 24, 1975. The next day, Emergency was imposed. Roughly 100km from Lucknow is the hamlet of Rae Bareli, with old connections to both Motilal and Jawaharlal Nehru since the days of a farmer agitation in the early 1920s. Rae Bareli — then a combination of Pratapgarh(West) and Rae Bareli(East) – was picked as the seat for Feroze Gandhi, Indira Gandhi's husband and the prime minister's son-in-law. He won that election, and then again in 1957. Indira Gandhi took over the seat in 1967. Today, it is a large hamlet of 1.6 million people. It still remains a bastion of the Gandhi family and is currently represented by the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi. 'There was a house of one Raghvendra Shukla from Bachrawan, which was vacant, that was made as the office of Indira ji. All the publicity material was kept there. That place was called the central office and Kapur used to stay at that place whenever he was here,' said Chaudhary. Here, older people still talk about the iconic (and later infamous) photo of Indira Gandhi campaigning on a jeep with Kapur. Chaudhary said the jeeps were washed and cleaned and sent back to Delhi after the elections. 'The jeep in which Indira ji campaigned along with Kapur was taken by the Congress. Hundreds of cars used to come to Rae Bareli from Delhi,' he said. When the Morarji Desai government swept to power in 1977, Kapur was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Kapur, along with other Gandhi aides such as RK Dhawan and PC Sethi, were arrested on charges that the Congress received unaccounted-for funds from private companies. CBI also alleged that the suspects siphoned off ₹6 crore from the Congress. He was also made the chairman of the National Herald newspaper in 1977, and continued till 1985-86. In 1983, Kapur also managed to get his cousin RK Dhawan into the still fledgling Rajiv Gandhi's team. 'Dhawan was the son of my father's aunt, and he was trained by my father to handle the affairs of the PMO,' said his son, Ashok Kapur. After Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984, Kapur's hold in the Congress appeared to loosen. 'The bond started to weaken when Rajeev Gandhi took over the reins. Though Kapur kept visiting Rae Bareli till the early 90s, he never had a public connection,' said Pandey. Ashok Kapur confirmed this. 'Rajiv Gandhi's team members created such circumstances that my father's entry was banned in the PMO. His team ensured that my father couldn't meet Rajiv ji even after he gave an appointment to meet my father,' he said. In 1991, Kapur fought the parliamentary election from Rae Bareli as a candidate of the Jharkhand Party, finishing fourth. Two years later, he died. His son Ashok sporadically returned to Rae Bareli, even working once to help Samajwadi Party candidates. His two elder brothers have died, one sister is in Delhi and another in South Africa. 'I am still a voter of Raebareli, I still have an address there,' he said, stressing on the family's deep ties to the area. But in Raebareli, the ties appear to have frayed. The local Congress unit chief, Pankaj Tiwari, admits that hardly anyone remembers Kapur. At the local tea shop, local resident Om Nath Singh said people take pride in the Gandhi name, but not even the older generation remembers Kapur. And for 25-year-old Akhil Srivastava, the name doesn't even ring a bell. 'He may have been a famous person back then but today no one knows him,' he said.
Mint
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani release first statement after becoming parents, ‘Our world forever changed'
Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani have released their first statement after becoming parents to a baby girl. 'Our hearts are full and our world forever changed. We are blessed with a baby girl,' the Bollywood couple wrote on social media. Actor Sunil Grover was one of the first ones to comment, 'Bestttttt!!!!!!! Badhai ho mummy daddy ko! Congratulations.' Casting director Mukesh Chhabra also shared 'love reactions'. Parineeti Chopra and Bhumi Pednekar also congratulated the new parents. 'All three students have their first baby girl,' commented one Instagram user, hinting at Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan becoming parents to daughters. 'Mama & baby girl share the same birthday month!!! So so happy for you guys,' pointed out another user. On February 28, the star couple announced the pregnancy on Instagram. Sharing a photo of a tiny pair of socks, they wrote, 'The greatest gift of our lives. Coming soon.' Citing sources, HT earlier reported that Kiara had a normal delivery at the Sir H. N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre in Mumbai. Kiara delivered her baby earlier than expected as she was due in August, according to NDTV. Both the mother and the daughter have been reported to be healthy. Last week, Kiara and Sidharth were seen visiting a clinic in Mumbai. They used an umbrella to avoid the paparazzi. Sidharth's mother and Kiara's parents were also with them. Since the pregnancy announcement, the couple has mostly stayed away from the spotlight. The Kabir Singh actress said she was overwhelmed during the proposal, especially when Sidharth used famous lines from Shershaah to pop the question. Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani got married on February 7, 2023, at Suryagarh Palace, Rajasthan. Their love story began during the filming of Shershaah. The war movie was released on Amazon Prime Video in 2021.
Hindustan Times
4 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Ghaziabad: 2 killed in rooftop structure collapses in Shalimar Garden
Ghaziabad: Two men were killed in separate incidents both involving rooftop balcony projections collapse at residential buildings located in Shalimar Garden locality of Ghaziabad on Tuesday. The other incident took place at around 6pm at a separate three-storeyed residential building in the Shalimar Garden's main road area, said officers. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo) A 27-year-old labourer, identified as Sumit Kumar, died in Shalimar Garden Extension 2 while doing repair work at the rooftop of a three-storeyed residential building around 10 am, officers said 'While taking up repairs, a portion of the rooftop collapsed and the labourer fell down. He died on the spot due to fatal injuries. Two days ago, plaster from the rooftop fell on a Thar SUV and damaged it. So, the residents thought to get the thing repaired. However, the labourer fell while taking repairs,' said ACP (Shalimar Garden circle) Atul Kumar Singh. The other incident took place at around 6pm at a separate three-storeyed residential building in the Shalimar Garden's main road area, said officers. 'A man, identified as Rupesh Kumar, 26, was standing at an automobile repair shop below a building to get his motorbike repaired. Soon, debris from the rooftop of the building fell on him, leaving him severely injured. Locals and police rushed him to a hospital where he succumbed,' the ACP added. Officers said he was a resident of Farrukhnagar near Tila Morh in Sahibabad. Bodies in both the incidents were sent for autopsy, the ACP said, adding they were yet to receive any formal complaint in the incident by the victims' families. 'Once the families arrive with any complaints, we will register an FIR and act accordingly.' In a similar incident in Shalimar Garden's DLF Colony on June 18, two street vendors, Mohammad Saleem and Mohammad Ayyub, both aged 60, died after getting injured by a heap of debris that fell from a balcony projection from a third-floor flat. One vendor died on the spot, while the second succumbed the next day.
