NEW DELHI: Fugitive gangster Himanshu Bhau has been charged under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), an official said on Friday.
According to police records, Bhau is implicated in numerous criminal activities in the Delhi-NCR region, including targeted killings, financially motivated shootings, and extortion. He is notorious for making threatening calls to businessmen to instill fear and maintain control.
Bhau hails from Ritoli village in Rohtak, Haryana, and is listed among the “most wanted criminals.” He had fled India and is currently orchestrating his organised crime network from Portugal.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sanjay Bhatia said on the evening of May 6, an incident of firing was reported at Tilak Nagar police station in which three accused persons indiscriminately fired in and outside the Fusion car showroom to create terror of their gang leader Himanshu Bhau, among the community of businessmen.
“In this incident, six persons got injured. Before leaving the spot, the accused persons left a chit claiming themselves as a syndicate of Himanshu Bhau gang,” said the ACP
Next day, on May 7, the complainant received a threatening call from an international VoIP number and the caller claimed himself as Bhau and demanded a ransom of Rs five crore.
“During the investigation, it was found that the syndicate of Bhau and his associates indulged in continuing unlawful activity for the gain of pecuniary benefits. Hence, the MCOC Act has been instituted against Bahu gang and further investigation is being carried out,” Bhatia added.
Meanwhile, an alleged associate of Bhau is understood to have been detained by agencies in the United States. Sources said that Sahil Kumar, who allegedly runs an extortion racket with Bhau from abroad and is wanted by the Haryana Police in several cases, has been detained by the US authorities.
Kumar is facing an Interpol Red Notice that requests the law-enforcement agencies of all the 196 member countries to detain a fugitive if spotted in their jurisdiction.
The information is then passed on to the member country that had sought the issuance of the notice.
This process is followed by a move to get the accused extradited or deported after the legal formalities are completed in the courts of that country where the person is spotted and detained.
A senior official said, “Once the identity of the detained man is established, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is the Interpol arm in India, will coordinate with the US authorities to ensure his extradition from there to India.”
Kumar allegedly used passports with a fake identity and address to flee India, the officials said, adding that cases related to extortion and threats are registered in Haryana against him and gansster Himanshu Bhau.
Crime history
Bhau is implicated in numerous criminal activities in the Delhi-NCR region, including targeted killings, financially motivated shootings, and extortion. He is notorious for making threatening calls to businessmen to instill fear and maintain control. Bhau had fled India and is currently orchestrating his organised crime network from Portugal.