Three wanted for heinous crimes nabbed by STF

GURUGRAM: Three dreaded criminals carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 each on their heads were arrested by the special task force of Haryana Police after a brief exchange of fire near in Rohtak on Saturday.
The three — identified as Praveen, Sunny and Pankaj alias Sonu, all residents of Sonipat district — were wanted in several cases of murder, attempt to murder and dacoity. Two of them, Praveen and Sunny, are the main accused in 2012 Sonipat jail break case.

Acting on a tip-off that the three were planning to rob a man of his car, a team led by inspector Sandeep Dhankhar reached IMT Chowk. Seeing the cops, the trio initially tried to flee by firing at them but were soon overpowered by inspector Dhankhar and his team after a brief encounter.

Three guns — two .32 bore pistols and one 9 MM pistol — have been recovered from their possession, said Kaptan Singh, STF’s deputy SP. The trio was produced in a Rohtak court later in the day that sent them to judicial custody for 14 days.

“They were wanted in many heinous crimes, including the alleged murder of Satender, the son of Bhadana village’s sarpanch, in 2016. They were also involved in a robbery of jewellery worth Rs 1.5 crore from Nikki jeweller’s showroom in Gannaur in 2016,” inspector Dhankhar said. “Though Sunny was arrested for Sonipat jail break in which eight inmates fled, he jumped parole in August 2017, while Praveen was a proclaimed offender in a case of murder,” he added.

On the intervening night of January 17 and 18, Sunny and Praveen, along with six others, cut the iron grill in their cell with a cutter and then scaled the jail’s 20-feet high wall with the help of a rope and escaped.

Saurabh Singh, head of STF Haryana, said, “This is a big catch. Raids are on to nab other wanted criminals in the state.”