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“The Special Cell team had been working for three years to get information on him,” said Singh.
The police team is bringing Brijesh to Delhi after procuring a court order for his transit remand. Brijesh had a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head, with 23 cases against his name, including murder, extortion, kidnapping and contract killings. These cases were registered in various districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Varanasi, Chandauli, Azamgarh and Lucknow.
Khurda Superintendent of Police Amitabh Thakur told Newsline over the phone: “Brijesh was associated with a firm called Vindhyachal Real Estate Developers in Orissa. He had been staying in a flat here. We are yet to search his house. While staying in Orissa, he had assumed the false name of Arun Kumar.”
The Special Cell team from Delhi had travelled to UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Orissa and Mumbai to arrest the gangster. They started out without even a photograph of Brijesh, managing to get one only in Mumbai.
Brijesh entered the world of crime after his father’s murder in 1984 over a land dispute in his village . He killed two people at the age of 18, when he was doing his graduation from a Varanasi college, to avenge his father’s death. A spate of killings followed in the area and eventually he got into railway tenders, liquor business, coal and scrap business and real estate and built his empire, said the police.
“He was first arrested in 1986, but escaped from police custody. He managed to evade arrest for over 20 years,” said a police officer.
Confirming his arrest, Additional DGP (Crime) Brij Lal, Lucknow, said: “A UP Police team will go to Delhi to bring Brijesh back.” He said the state police will do its best to ensure that Brijesh undergoes a narco-analysis test.
According to the police, Singh was part of Dawood Ibrahim’s gang but left after the gang split.
The case was marked to the Delhi Special Cell three years ago after they received a complaint from a Delhi-based businessman about an extortion threat. Sources said the Delhi Police arrested him in connection with an extortion case of 2007.
“The Delhi Police was desperately chasing him because of his power to influence CPWD contracts,” an officer said.
The blood trail
* 1985: Singh’s gang was involved in a shootout with a family in a village in UP. The gang killed six people. One member from the family survived who Singh tracked down and killed in 1992 in Gujarat. Singh also shot and paralysed a Gujarat Police Sub-Inspector.
* 1986: Singh killed a liquor mafia don, Virender Tata, when he was in police custody. Tata was being taken to Azamgarh Court from Allahabad Jail, when Singh attacked him. One Inspector, one Head Constable and an advocate were also killed.
* 1991: Singh and his associate attacked an election campaigning jeep of Afzal Ansari and killed six people. In the same year, to avenge the death of one of his shooters, Singh fired indiscriminately with automatic weapons in a market in Pakdi Village and killed seven people.
* 1991: Singh killed one Maya Singh when he was taken to Varanasi Court. Maya was killed on the court premises. A Constable was also killed.
* 1991: Singh wore a police uniform and got inside a hospital in Mudiyaar village and killed one Sadhu Singh. Singh also killed eight other people.
* 1991: Singh killed a Sub-Inspector Maharashtra Police. He believed the SI was behind the murder of Dawood Ibrahim’s son in law.
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