Two of Kaushal gang arrested after shootout

ONE OF THE ACCUSED IS WANTED IN 8 CASES OF MURDER, CARRIES ₹2 LAKH REWARD

GURUGRAM: Two members of the Kaushal Gang, including a mostwanted criminal, were arrested after a brief exchange of fire with the police on KMP Expressway in the early hours of Tuesday, the police said.

The accused men— identified as Chand, 24, from Rewari and Vikash, 29, from Jhajjar—were arrested for allegedly shooting dead a nambardar (an official who maintains and verifies land records in a village) on December 5 at IMT Chowk in Manesar.

On December 5, Sumer Singh, 52, was riding home on a scooter around 7.30pm after meeting his brothers, when he was shot dead at IMT Chowk by three men on a motorcycle. The incident took place about 500 metres from his brothers’ house and about 100 metres from a police aid booth.

On Monday, the police got information that the two men will be travelling towards Delhi via the KMP Expressway. Around 3am Tuesday, police set up a barricade and waited for them. They came on a motorcycle and when the police signalled them to stop, the pillion rider opened fire, the police said. The police personnel also fired one round which led to the rider losing his balance and falling down.

The police seized two pistols and about a dozen live rounds of ammunition and a motorcycle from them, assistant commissioner of police (crime) Shamsher Singh said.

According to the ACP, the accused said they had killed Singh as they were directed to do so by a man identified as Sube, suspected to one of the main members of the Kaushal Gang.

“Sube had stake in a commercial property which was facing some problem and Sumer Singh was overseeing the issue. Sube asked Chand to murder Singh. Further details would be clear once we question the accused,” Deepak Kumar, in-charge of sector 10 CIA, said, adding that they were remanded to two days in police custody on Tuesday.

While Chand is involved in eight murder cases and carried a reward of ₹2 lakh, Vikash is an accused in one case of murder, the ACP said. Chand was one of the “most wanted criminals” of the city with the Rewari and Gurugram police, both, offering a reward of ₹1 lakh each for information leading to his arrest.

Though there have been multiple cases in 2018 in which Kaushal Gang’s involvement is suspected, the police have failed to arrest the kingpin, who fled the country last year when he was out on bail, senior police officers said.

On August 10, 2018, the police arrested Amit Dagar, the number 2 man in Kaushal Gang and another member after a shootout on the Dwarka Expressway.