39 in jail, cops turn focus to Kaushal gang’s dirty dozen

Gurgaon: Thirty-nine members of the Kaushal gang are behind bars and a dozen operatives, Kaushal himself among them, are free but on the run, police say, confident that the end is near for the city’s most feared criminal organisation.
The confidence among investigators stems from the arrest of Kaushal’s closes confidant and live-in partner Manisha from Delhi’s Burari earlier this week.
Police will apply for a production warrant of Manisha, who is currently in judicial custody, and hope to use information she yields to dismantle the gang’s networks and make a few more arrests. “We have crippled the gang by nabbing all major shooters and members. Some more gang members will be behind bars soon,” said Rajiv Deswal, DCP (crime).
“The Kaushal gang has terrorised Gurgaon for a decade but it is likely over now. We will take Manisha on production warrant hope many other cases will be solved under Operation Cleanup (launched against the gang),” Deswal added.
The preliminary investigation, according to sleuths, has revealed Manisha was not only helping run Kaushal’s business but also supervised several extortion bids.
“While Kaushal was on the run, Manisha kept the gang going. From passing on Kaushal’s instructions to coordinating and recruiting new members, she kept things moving. But the gang has collapsed after her arrest,” said a senior official of the crime unit. Manisha was arrested by the crime unit, Sector 17 on June 2 from a rented flat in Delhi’s Burari.
A senior investigator said Manisha’s two brothers, Gaurav and Saurav, had also joined the gang and worked as shooters who were involved in the firing at a medical store in Rewari’s Pushpanjali hospital to seek extortion money.
Manisha’s role in the murder of property dealer Vijay Batra alias Tantrik on Sohna Road this February is also being probed.
The Kaushal gang members now in custody are involved in many cases of murder, attempted murder and extortion. We are focusing on Kaushal now. His live-in partner might prove a big in nabbing Kaushal,” said Shamsher Singh Dahiya, ACP (crime).
Kaushal (38) has been the main face of Gurgaon’s underworld for a while. In December 2016, he jumped parole when he was let out of Bhondsi jail and has evaded arrest since.
The son of a property dealer in Naharpur Rupa village, Kaushal used to provide and fix submersible pumps before joining the crime world. His tryst with crime started in 2004 when he got involved in a land dispute the gangster Sudesh alias Chhelu. The fight between Kaushal and Chhelu resulted in nine murders. The series of killings stopped on December 12, 2006 when Kaushal’s men gunned down Chhelu at Rajiv Chowk in police custody.
Manisha was arrested after Kaushal’s cousin Rahul Dagar was picked up from IGI airport last week after he flew in from Thailand, where the fugitive gangster has built a base. Dagar was the other mainstay of the Kaushal gang’s operations in NCR.