NIA attaches five properties in crackdown on Bishnoi, Bambiha gangs

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) as part of its crackdown on gangster-drug smuggler networks, attached five more properties in Delhi and Haryana.

Four of these properties in Haryana and one in Delhi were owned by members of organized crime syndicates operating in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi, according to an NIA statement.

The NIA’s move followed investigations in cases against three major organized crime syndicates and gangs being operated by Pakistan-based Harvinder Rinda, Lawrence Bishnoi and Davinder Bambiha gangs.

The properties attached by NIA on Tuesday include the houses of Chhotu Ram at Chautala in Sirsa district in Haryana, Jagseer Singh at Takhatmal in Sirsa district, Virender Singh in Yamuna Nagar district in Haryana, and lands of Raju at Basaudi in Sonipat district in Haryana and Satyawan Sehrawat at Dariyapur in Delhi.

NIA’s action on Tuesday, the agency said, has hit the weapons supply chain of this network.

Virender alias Kala Rana, Chhotu Ram alias Bhat and Jagseer Singh alias Jagga used to provide weapons and arrange logistics, including safe sanctuaries, to the gang members, said the NIA.

Satyawan alias Sonu and Raju alias Mota had also harboured gangsters, said the NIA, adding “they had a major role to play in the generation of funds to support the operations of terror-crime syndicates.”

Raju alias Mota had laundered the money by investing the ‘proceeds of terrorism’ in the real estate business and other businesses, including liquor, said the agency.

The properties attached on Tuesday were found acquired from funds generated from carrying out different types of terrorist and criminal extortion activities and were thus ‘proceeds of terrorism’, as they were being used for hatching terror conspiracies and execution of crimes, NIA  said.

NIA has carried out over 230 raids and searches across Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi and NCR, arrested 27 gangster leaders, recovered around 38 weapons, frozen 87 Bank accounts since it launched its drive against organized crime syndicates in August 2022.

In addition, Canada-based Arsh Dalla and Pakistan-based Harvinder Rinda have been listed as ‘terrorists’ by the MHA under UAPA in the recent past.

“The drive to choke these organized crime networks of funding and to dismantle their ecosystem by attaching and seizing their properties, derived from ‘proceeds of terrorism and crime’ would be intensified in the coming days, along with police forces of various states,” the NIA statement added.