New Delhi, Oct 29 The Delhi Police has arrested two alleged operatives of the Himanshu Bhau gang for allegedly facilitating financial transactions, arranging fake identities and providing logistical support to shooters acting on the instructions of the gang’s fugitive leaders based abroad, officials said on Thursday.
One of the accused was allegedly being groomed as a shooter and was awaiting instructions to conduct reconnaissance or carry out a targeted killing when he was arrested, police said.
The accused have been identified as Mursaleen alias Gullu (25), a resident of Pasonda in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, and Naveen (20), a resident of Bhiwani in Haryana. A pistol and five live cartridges were recovered during the operation, they said.
Mursaleen was arrested on October 11 with a pistol and three live cartridges. During interrogation, he allegedly disclosed that he came in contact with two sharpshooters of the gang in Visakhapatnam in January this year, where they were hiding after committing crimes in Delhi-NCR, police said.
He subsequently joined the gang as a field operative and allegedly facilitated the transfer of money from gang leader Himanshu Bhau to the shooters. He also arranged fake identity documents to help them stay in hotels, officials said.
Following the arrest of the gang’s sharpshooters in August, Bhau allegedly began grooming Mursaleen as a shooter and provided him with weapons. He was awaiting further instructions when the Special Cell apprehended him, police said.
Based on Mursaleen’s disclosure, the police team arrested Naveen from Bhiwani. He had allegedly been recruited by the same shooters and initially facilitated financial transactions by providing his bank account to transfer money from Bhau. He later began working as a courier for weapons.
Both accused remained in contact with the gang’s overseas-based leaders through internet-based secure communication applications, police said.
The arrests followed intelligence inputs that young men were providing logistical support to shooters associated with the gang. Police conducted surveillance and source-based investigations to identify the operatives, they said.
According to police, the investigation has revealed how the gang’s leaders allegedly recruit young men as shooters and logistics providers, while coordinating criminal activities and financial transactions through secure communication platforms from abroad.
Mursaleen, who dropped out of school after Class 2, worked as a house painter before allegedly joining the gang. He came in contact with its shooters while working in Visakhapatnam and was attracted by their lifestyle, police said.
Naveen discontinued his studies after Class 9 and worked as a carpenter. He met the gang’s shooters in Mysuru and has previously been involved in an attempt-to-murder case.
(PTI News)
