NEW DELHI: The Crime Branch created a fake account on Instagram pretending to be a Mumbai-based model and nabbed a member of the infamous Gogi gang.
The police on Friday, identified him as Manoj Kumar, a resident of Nangloi. He is a life convict and parole jumper in a kidnapping for ransom-cum-murder case in Nangloi in 2005. The police said after learning that Kumar was active on Instagram, they created a fake account and pretended to be a Mumbai-based model/actress.
They chatted with him for weeks and eventually managed to lure him to Safdarjung Enclave for a rendezvous. The trap closed on Kumar when he arrived, and he was held, DCP (Crime) Aditya Gautam said.
Kumar belongs to Mahendragarh district. After completing his school, he started a business in Nangloi with his friend Chamanlal, who had an old enmity with one Rahul. In 2005, they abducted Rahul and killed him for not paying ransom.
The trial court convicted Kumar and awarded life imprisonment in 2013. While in Tihar, he came in contact with Vicky Ramzanpur of Gogi gang. Another gangster, Deepak Dabas, also used to visit them in jail.
In 2014, Kumar exited jail on a one-month parole and absconded. He joined the Gogi gang through Deepak. Then he and his aides killed a person in Shahbad Dairy and committed multiple carjackings in Narela, Begumpur, and Alipur. They used robbed cars for extortions in Bawana, Narela, and other outskirts of Delhi, police said.
In December 2015, he was again arrested and jailed. In 2023, he got a parole and absconded again. He committed multiple carjacking in Pali and was caught. He remained in Bilada jail until December 2024 but managed to hide his criminal history from authorities.