Sonu Dangar, her gang of nine booked under GCTOC

Rajkot: Notorious history-sheeter Sonal alias Sonu Dangar and eight others were booked under Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organized Crime (GCTOC) Act for running an ‘organized crime syndicate’ for over a decade by the Savarkundla police of Amreli district.
Apart from Dangar, Shivraj Vichhiya, Shailesh Chandu, Dadu Chandu, Ashok Boricha, Balsinh Boricha, Vanraj Vala, Narendra Khuman and Gautam Khuman were booked under various sections of the GCTOC Act on Monday night at the Savarkundla rural police station.
A special investigation team (SIT) has also been formed by the Amreli superitendent of police Nirlipt Rai to investigate the case. SIT probe is headed by deputy SP K J Chaudhary with probationer ASP Sushil Agarwal as his assistant.
“This is the first case under GCTOC in Amreli after the act was enacted in Gujarat,” said R K Karmata, sub-inspector with Amreli local crime branch.
Of those booked, Dangar and Vichhiya are the gang leaders, who had spread their crime syndicate in districts like Amreli, Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Gir Somnath and Junagadh. The gang is allegedly involved in crimes ranging from murder, attempt to murder and extortion to kidnapping, money laundering, land grabbing and arms dealing, said Karmata, adding that the gang was also involved in smuggling of arms and explosives.
Dangar and her gang members have been ‘continuing unlawful activity’ despite several chargesheets filed against them for various offences, said Karmata.
Dangar was last year arrested for circulated a video on the social media in which she is threatening Amreli superintendent of police Nirlipt Rai and a woman sub-inspector of Savarkundla police station.
In the video, Dangar was apparently angry over arrest of her close aide Vichhiya held under Prohibition Act after he was caught in a liquor party by Ahmedabad police. Later, the Ahmedabad police handed over Vichhiya’s custody to Amreli police.
After Savarkundla taluka police station officials registered an offence in this regard, Dangar was traced to a hotel in Udaipur in Rajasthan and arrested on December 22 last year.
Of those booked under GCTOC, six accused including Dangar, Vichhiya, Balsinh Boricha, Narendra Khuman, Gautam Khuman and Dadu Chandu are lodged in different jails of Gujarat.
However, Vala, Ashok Boricha and Shailesh Chandu out on bail. “We have intensified our manhunt for the remaining accused, and we hope to nab them soon,” said Karmata.