Gurugram cops plan to bank less on encounter specialists, to train men to open fire as last resort

GURUGRAM: Once dependent on encounter specialists, the Gurugram Police now want to play safe in using their services in dealing with the deadly gangs operating in Gurugram.

For a long time, the services of the special men trained solely to kill was a strategy adopted for elimination of dangerous gang leaders of Gurugram.

However controversial process involved during encounters, judicial intervention and high costs used for the department for encounter specialists has led to the change in strategy for the Gurugram Police.

The team of police officials from Gurugram Crime Branch who were involved in the encounter of dreaded gangster Sandip Gadoli in Mumbai on February 7 last year are still being tried in court.

Taking into cognisance the risks involved to the individual officers, the Gurugram Police now are training its officers in the Crime Branch to restrain from encounter killings.

There are 10 units consisting of 150 officers which have been formed by the Gurugram Crime Branch in dealing with the crimes committed by various gangs functional across the city.

The main directive that has been provided to the officers is to not take the first step in firing a shot.

On Wednesday, the Gurugram Police arrested Gadoli’s real brother Brahm Prakash along with two other sharp shooters from Garhi Harsaru in the city without firing a single shot.

On Tuesday, the Rohtak Police had arrested four sharpshooters of the Gadoli Gang who were coming to Gurugram. According to sources, the group of gangsters were not only plotting to kill the key members of rival Gurjar gang but also planning to harm certain officers of the Gurugram Crime Branch.

Police sources in the Crime Branch maintain that there has been a reduction in the dangers posed by the deadly gangs of Gurugram since most of their leaders have either been eliminated or arrested.

However, the sources also conceded that the danger from the gangs and their members has still not fully been removed.

In addition to the big gangs that involve the like of Gadoli gang, Gurjar gang and Kaushal gang, the increasing number of small criminal gangs are also posing a threat to the citizens as well as the police officials.

“Though I will not like to disclose much on the status of the encounter specialists in Gurugram Police, I will like to assure that each officer in the Crime Branch is well trained to deal with the deadly criminals. Even as challenges remain, the force has reduced the influence which these gangs used to possess at one point of time,” said a senior police official from the Gurugram Crime Branch. GURUGRAM: The recent arrests of members of the Gadoli gang who were plotting to kill the key members of the rival Gurjar gang may have raised concerns of a deadly gang war again returning to the city.

However, it is not the revival of big gangs but the rapid expansion of small criminal gangs spread across different parts of the city that is proving to be a major challenge for the Gurugram Crime Branch.

Specialised in stealing vehicles, chain snatching, kidnapping and murders, the rate of these gangs is steadily increasing in the city. There are over 200 such gangs that are believed to be active in the city. Most of the gangs consist of around six to ten members. The number of the members in the gangs increase as the group expands. Out of 200 such gangs, most members come from the region of Mewat and villages of Rajasthan bordering South Haryana.

These criminal gangs seem to have also overcome the hurdles caused by demonetsation of higher currency notes. According to the police sources in the Crime Branch, most of these gangs are well equipped with weapons and guns. The cost the weapons possessed by the gang members range between Rs 1,500 to Rs 50,000. The gangs get their weapons from Aligarh and Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh. The dangers posed by these gangs can be gauged from the fact that in the beginning of 2016, a group named after its leader Islammudin had kidnapped the SHO of Sector 29. In 2016, there were members of 60 groups who were arrested by the Crime branch.