MUMBAI, March 16: Five members of the Uttar Pradesh-based Babloo Shrivastava gang, including a TADA detenue, were arrested at a Juhu flat by a special squad of the Mumbai police on Sunday evening.Shrivastava is currently lodged at Naini Jail, Allahabad, where he is undergoing a jail term for murdering a customs officer in 1992. Acting on a tip-off that gangsters from Uttar Pradesh had sneaked into the city, Crime Investigating Unit (CIU) sleuths had laid a trap over the last one week to nab the suspects. All the gangsters have criminal records, the police told Express Newsline.
Said deputy commissioner of police (crime) K L Prasad, a raid was conducted on Sunday after the squad received information that the gang was hiding in a Juhu flat. The officers rushed to the spot and nabbed the gangsters, who were reportedly chalking out plans to abduct a businessman, whose name has been withheld, from the western suburbs, added Prasad. They were also planning a killing.
During the raid, the policerecovered a Colt revolver, a .38 revolver, two 9 mm pistols and 44 live rounds. Two mobile phones, a Maruti car, a motorcycle and Rs 35,000 in cash were among other articles recovered from the gangsters, said investigating officer inspector Vilas Tupe.
The gangsters have been identified as Richard Robert Fernandes alias Suresh Suvarna, Karansingh Dineshsingh Thakur, Rajesh Shrikrishna Gupta alias Pankaj Shrivastav, Abdul Aziz Abubakar Haji and Nadeem Hyder Sayyed Musahid Rizvi alias Deepak Singh. They acted on direct instructions from Fernandes, who in turn received orders from Shrivastava, added the police.
Fernandes, named in over four serious offences and an unreported case of kidnapping, is also said to behind a killing involving Pappu Kalani. A close associate of Shrivastava, he was overseeing operations around Mumbai.
The police have also got the names of six other associates, which have been withheld. The arrested gangsters have been remanded to police custody till March 2
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
