Deepak Nandal gang members sought to extort crores from Gurugram businessman: Police

Gurugram, Jul 10 (PTI) Notorious criminal Deepak Nandal's associates, four of whom were killed in an encounter here, were seeking to extort several crores of rupees from businessman Vishal Beri, police said on Friday. The encounter, in which more than 60 rounds were fired, took place in Sushant Lok A Block late on Thursday, where Beri, a property dealer and son of the SGT University founder, resides. Four alleged gangsters were shot dead, and one received bullet injuries, while three police personnel were also injured in the exchange of fire. All of the injured men have been hospitalised and are receiving treatment, police said. Three of the deceased, Aryan, Nitin and Ankit, were residents of Rohtak, and the fourth, Sandeep alias Deepa, was a resident of Fatehabad. The injured person from the group of Nandal's associates has been identified as Shivam, a resident of Kota Bisar in Nuh district, according to officials. Police have recovered five modern pistols, more than 50 empty cartridges, live ammunition and one black Scorpio SUV from the spot. The five members of the Deepak Nandal gang had allegedly held Beri hostage at his residence. He was alone at home at the time of the incident, a senior police officer said. According to the police, the incident took place at around 9.50 pm. Crime Branch teams received information from the Police Control Room about armed criminals travelling in a Scorpio SUV. By the time the teams reached the Sushant Lok area, the criminals had allegedly begun firing at Beri's residence using sophisticated weapons. Police appealed to the alleged gangsters to surrender, but they opened fire on the police instead, officials said. In the ensuing gunfire, four of the shooters were killed, and one was injured. A senior police officer said Beri was rescued safely. The three policemen who sustained bullet injuries were ASI Sunil, Constable Manjit and Constable Shamsher from Crime Branch Sector-40. They were taken to the Medanta Hospital for treatment. "The bodies of criminals have been sent to a mortuary for the post-mortem examination. Details regarding the slain criminals, weapons recovered, and other facts would be shared after verification. A further probe is underway," a spokesperson of Gurugram police said. According to police, intelligence inputs were received over the past several days, and threats were reported by certain victim families, and different Crime Branch teams had been deployed to monitor all potential target locations. Acting on the input, Crime Branch teams from Sectors 40, 39, and 17 laid a strategic cordon around the location of the incident. Beri had reportedly been receiving extortion messages from the wanted gangster Deepak Nandal, who is based abroad. His associates demanded extortion money worth several crores of rupees from the property dealer, who is a native of Jhajjar district, the police added. Preliminary verification of criminal records revealed that Nitin had two previous criminal cases registered in Rohtak relating to an attempt to murder and illegal possession of arms. Sandeep also has 14 criminal cases registered against him relating to the Arms Act, NDPS Act and other serious offences. Scientific evidence was collected in the presence of an Executive Magistrate. A detailed inspection of the crime scene was conducted. We will arrest the injured accused after discharge from the hospital. A further probe is underway", ACP (Crime) Naveen Sharma said. Nandal, once a well-known face in the Haryanvi music industry, has been linked to several crimes such as extortion, murder, kidnapping and ransom demands in Delhi and Haryana. He allegedly operates his network from overseas and recruits young people via social media. He is reported to have been active in countries such as the UAE, the UK and Canada. Police in the Delhi-NCR region have been searching for him for a long time. PTI COR APL APL