Noida STF arrests Abu Salem aide four years after he was booked for attempt to murder

NOIDA: Four years after his name was associated with an incident of firing upon a Delhi-based businessman, Hashim Khan -- an aide of gangster Abu Salem, member of the infamous D company -- has been arrested by the Noida unit of the STF.
Along with his accomplice Gajendra Singh, the accused was involved in handling the affairs and making money for Salem and gangster Zafar Supari in Ambedkar Nagar in NCR and were allegedly active between 2014-15 by showing fake plots to people.
If asked to return their money, the accused would allegedly threaten people taking the names of Salem and Supari.
The accused was arrested on Tuesday from near Labour Chowk around 8.35pm with a 315 bore pistol and three cartridges of 315 bore.
According to STF officers, in 2014, Gajendra Singh took Rs 1.8 crore from a Delhi-based businessman, Mukesh Bhargav, on the pretext of selling a property. When he was asked to return the money, Singh plotted an attack on the businessman and arranged for shooters to fire at him in sector 18.
The businessman, who was in his car, managed to escape from the spot. That attack took place in May 2017 in which an FIR was lodged under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 427 (mischief causing damage) and 34 (common intention).
The businessman had lodged an FIR stating that he was duped of Rs 1.8 crores by the accused on the name of investment in property who later refused to return his money and threatened him with the name of the D company.
Harish has been identified as a close aide of Salem’s sharpshooter and Supari’s younger brother Khan Mubarak. Harish had come in contact with Gajendra, an investor for the gangsters when he had gone to meet Abu Salem during a court hearing, said STF officers.
The STF said that it was Salem who introduced Gajendra to Zafar Supari and Harish Khan who had been accompanying them.
DySP STF, Raj Kumar Mishra told TOI that Gajendra had transferred Rs 10 lakh in the account of Ram Prakash Verma, a brick kiln owner from Ambedkar Nagar, to be paid to Khan Mubarak and also paid Rs 8 lakh to Harish Khan for executing the firing.
“Both Gajendra and Raj Prakash have been arrested in connection with the case earlier in 2020. Soon after the arrest of Gajendra in 2020, the accused Harish Khan left for Mumbai where he had been staying so far,” he said.
During interrogation, he said Singh confessed to extorting Rs 52 lakh from a sector 20 resident, Vineet Chauhan.
Singh also told police that he is a distant relative of gangsters Sundar Bhati, who is from western UP, and Azad Bansal of Ghaziabad.