Shooter who ‘worked’ for Abu Salem held
Jaan Usman allegedly fired at film director Rakesh Roshan and singer Daler Mehandi, now arrested for shooting at his wife
NEW DELHI: A day before a TADA court convicted underworld gangster Abu Salem in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, one of his alleged sharpshooters, Jaan Usman, was caught from east Delhi’s Pandav Nagar on Thursday.
According to the police, 37-year-old Usman has had a long career in the Mumbai underworld during which he allegedly shot at Bollywood director Rakesh Roshan, singer Daler Mehandi and tried to extort from several film personalities, including actress Raveena Tandon’s husband, Anil Thadani.
While Usman has been in and out of jail for the crimes, which he allegedly committed at the instance of his boss Abu Salem, he was arrested on Thursday for allegedly shooting and injuring his wife in west Delhi’s Janakpuri earlier this month.
Usman and his two associates allegedly shot his wife at her Janakpuri home on June 2. Though the couple has been in a troubled relationship for long, an argument on that night allegedly led to the reported crime.
The woman was hospitalised with two gunshot wounds, but survived the attack. Usman, meanwhile, escaped from the spot with his associates.
“On Thursday, our special staff team was tipped off that Usman would be visiting the Sanjay Jheel Park in Pandav Nagar to visit an associate. A trap was laid and Usman arrested. A pistol and two bullets were recovered from him,” said Omvir Singh, DCP (east), on Friday.
Sharing Usman’s background, the DCP said that the accused was born in an impoverished family north Delhi’s Sarai Rohilla. He visited Mumbai in 1996 to look for job opportunities but ended up meeting Waseem, one of Salem’s many sharpshooters.
“Waseem, who was an accused in the murder of film producer Gulshan Kumar, introduced Usman to Abu Salem. At Salem’s instructions, Usman joined a fake currency notes racket that operated out of Dubai and Karachi,” alleged the DCP.
Usman would allegedly circulate the fake notes in India by smuggling them through Nepal and Bangladesh. He was first arrested in Delhi in 2000 in the case.
Once he was released from jail, Usman allegedly began extorting from film personalities on behalf of Salem. Police have alleged that Usman was among the two assailants who in 2000 fired at Rakesh Roshan, leaving him injured in his arm.
Usman was later arrested by the Mumbai Police for trying to extort from Thadani. The police have alleged that he continued extorting over the years. “Usman has confessed to threatening a film director-cum-choreographer in Mumbai last November,” said the DCP.
According to the police, Usman had also received an offer from the underworld in 2015 to eliminate Chhota Rajan, but the plan did not materialise due to the high security provided to the arrested gangster.
In Delhi, Usman has been arrested thrice in the past. After his arrest in 2000 in the fake currency case, he was caught in 2010 in connection with an Arms Act case. He was again nabbed in 2015 by the crime branch in connection with previous cases against him.