A wanted criminal identified as Govinda of the notorious Bawariya gang and an alleged sharpshooter Baleshwar Bhati from the Sundar Bhati gang were arrested in a police encounter in Greater Noida and Noida respectively on November 17 (Saturday) night.
The police arrested Govinda without any injuries while the sharpshooter was shot in the leg while trying to escape during the encounter. The cops said that both criminals were living in Meerut and Delhi on fake identities.
Govinda belongs to Bharatpur in Rajasthan and was a wanted fugitive for more than 10 years in murder attempts and dacoity cases. He was arrested at 8.30 p.m. near power sub-station square in Ecotech 1 in Greater Noida after the police received a tip-off.
“We were informed that an accomplice of the gangster from the Bawariya gang, who was arrested a day ago, will be seen in the area so we established a special check-post and detained the accused after he looked suspicious. Further after questioning, he revealed that he is a wanted criminal in Rajasthan and was living in a rented room in Bhawanpur in Meerut with a disguised identity of Rajesh Babu,” said Station House Officer Farmood Ali Pundhir at Ecotech 1.
In another encounter on Saturday at around 8 p.m., Baleshwar Bhati was arrested after a gunfight near Okhla Bird Sanctuary.
The police said that Bhati has escaped from the custody of Special Task Force around six months ago. “Since then he was living as a white collared man in Delhi where he and his men had allegedly acquired the contract for tax collection at toll plazas in Delhi. Bhati headed the gang who extorted money from people, carried robberies and contract killing. He is booked in at least five cases in Delhi-NCR,” said Station House Officer Manoj Pant at Sector 20.
He further added that Bhati planned his hideouts abroad where he flies after almost every successful bid.
“His passport revealed that he had recently been to Thailand. A pistol with 10 bullets, a Samsung mobile phone, two ATM cards, SIM cards, a key card of a five-star hotel was recovered from his possession. A red beacon and a luxury car was also confiscated,” Mr. Pant added.
The two were sent to jail after they were produced in court on Sunday.