Gogi had posted that his gang would punish JNU student Sharjeel Imam.
To keep his gang’s image alive, Delhi’s most-wanted criminal Jitender Maan alias Gogi and his close associates created a Facebook profile that was being operated by an associate from inside Tihar Jail. According to police, the associate, Gulshan Bhardwaj, a resident of Alipur village, has been lodged in Tihar Jail for the last two years in a case under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
Delhi Police had been on Gogi’s trail since 2016 after he escaped police custody while being taken to a court hearing in Haryana. On Tuesday, he was arrested along with three accomplices — Kuldeep Maan alias Fajja, Kapil alias Gaurav, and Rohit alias Moi — from Gurgaon, said DCP (Special Cell) Manishi Chandra.
Police have recovered 10 phones from their possession and found that they were using SIM cards procured through forged IDs. “During questioning, he revealed that Kuldeep and Rohit were active on social media since 2011, while Gogi made his own Facebook account on December 6 last year. The intention was to lure youths to his gang and spread terror among rivals. Police were actively monitoring their technical movement. So, to dodge officers from Delhi and Haryana, the gang members would travel several kilometres from their current location before sending photos to Gulshan, who managed their accounts,” a source said. This helped them avoid being tracked through their Facebook profiles.
The gang members made a living out of extorting money from businessmen and politicians.
During their investigation, police found that Gulshan and Rohit had helped Gogi escape police custody in 2016.
When contacted, Tihar spokesperson AIG Rajkumar said, “We are not aware about this modus operandi and no police team has contacted us. If they approach us, we will conduct an enquiry.”
Sources told The Indian Express that the counter-intelligence team of the Special Cell got to know about Gogi’s location in Gurgaon around a month ago and put him under surveillance. “During surveillance, they found Gogi never came out of his rented flat at Mapsko Casabella in Sector-82. A few days ago, Gogi and his associates drove around 100 km away to make extortion calls and share several photos with Gulshan. They returned a few hours later while their photos were uploaded by Gulshan to their Facebook accounts,” a source said, adding that Gogi would deliberately visit outlets that offered free WiFi.
“After Pawan Anchil Thakur’s murder in Rohini, Gogi and his men had posted a news clipping and taken responsibility for his murder, even as police were groping in the dark. In one of his posts, Gogi had written that JNU PhD student Sharjeel Imam, accused of sedition, is a traitor and he should be released so that Gogi’s gang can punish him,” a source said.