Wrestler, DJ among three men arrested for arms trafficking in Delhi; 27 pistols seized

New Delhi, December 7  

A disc jockey and a wrestler were among three men who were arrested on charges of supplying illegal arms to criminals, and 27 semi-automatic pistols were seized from their possession, officials said on Tuesday.

Yogesh Patel alias Nilesh (22), Pankaj Kumar Bhardwaj (20) and Jitendra alias Jittu were arrested in two different operations by the Special Cell unit, they said.

The first operation was executed on December 3 after the New Delhi Range of Special Cell got a tip off about Patel, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, that he would be coming to Delhi’s Sarai Kale Khan to deliver illicit arms and ammunition to criminals based in Delhi-NCR.

“Our team led by inspectors Ravinder Kumar Tyagi and Rahul Kumar laid a trap around the specified spot along with the informer. In the evening, when the team spotted Patel in Sarai Kale Khan area, they surrounded him and apprehended him with a bag containing 12 pistols of .32 bore,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said.

He told the police that he was a professional DJ and at a wedding function in 2019, he met an arms trafficker of Damoh, who lured him into supplying illicit firearms to earn easy money.

Patel disclosed that he purchased pistols for Rs 8-10,000 per piece and further sold them for Rs 25,000 to 30,000 per piece to criminals based in Delhi-NCR, the police said.

The second operation was executed on December 6 after information was received about two arms suppliers who are residents of Uttar Pradesh and are regular suppliers of arms and ammunition for different gangs in Delhi.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Rajeev Ranjan Singh said, “Our team got a tip off that the two men would come to Rohini, to supply a large consignment of illegal arms.”      

“A trap was laid near Helipad T-Point, Rohini, on the road towards Karala, and at 1.25 pm, the two alleged men were spotted in a car. They were apprehended at the spot and were identified as Pankaj Kumar and Jitender. A total of 15 pistols were recovered from them,” Singh said.

When Bhardwaj was interrogated, he told the team that he has participated in different wrestling tournaments but due to the Covid pandemic, these events got cancelled. He later came in contact with an acquaintance named Pawan, who was involved in supplying illegal arms.

“Thereafter, Bhardwaj too started supplying illegal weapons in Delhi, Mathura and Aligarh. This time due to a large order for illegal weapons, he had convinced Jitender, who used to work as a driver, to join him. Jitender brought a car and both went to Khargone in Madhya Pradesh to take supply of illegal weapons,” Singh said.

Bhardwaj was supposed to get Rs 20,000 apart from car rent on completion of the work, the police said, adding that further investigation was underway. —PTI

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