According to the police, Ved Singh allegedly used to finance the Kishan Pehalwan gang that operates in the outer Delhi area. With Kishan in jail, Ved Singh and one Rajender from Palam were managing the operations.Anoop is the brother of gang-leader Balraj, who was killed by the Kishan Pehalwan gang this year. The police have said that he deliberately handpicked people from Mundka village -- where Ved Singh lived -- to spy on him. And he chose people who had some kind of vendetta against Ved Singh, they added.

The police said today that one of the men arrested -- Sanjay -- and his brother were allegedly beaten up by Ved Singh and his men during the Lok Sabha elections. Ved Singh reportedly got Sanjay arrested on trumped up charges a few months ago. Anoop managed to tap this animosity for Ved Singh, according to the police.

Sanjay was used by Anoop as an informer, and was even given a cellular phone so that he could keep in regular contact with the Balraj gang, providing them with up-to-date information on Ved Singh's every move, the police said.

It was these men who informed Anoop and other men of the Balraj gang about Ved Singh's movements on Tuesday night. Apart from Anoop, the police also suspect Vinod (from Mitrau village), Naresh alias Kala (from Rohtak) and Mahal (also from Mitrau). They believe that the men have fled to Chandigarh and Faridabad.

Talking about the work of the special 100-member team constituted by Commissioner of Police V.N. Singh and headed by Joint Commissioner (Southern Range) Amodh Kanth, an official said: ``The team pursued the investigation in all possible directions and examined hundreds of witnesses. In a major breakthrough, the case has opened up and the sequence of events leading to the said murder has been ascertained.''

The Kishan Pehalwan and Balraj gangs, both of which operate in the outer Delhi area, have a history of tension and killings behind them. Both use property businesses and contracts as a front for extortion.

Police sources say that the ``tender mafia'' which emerged in outer Delhi is the result of migration from Uttar Pradesh. Both Balraj and Kishan Pehalwan were connected to UP MLA Madan Gujjar, notorious in the region. The two subsequently began operating in Delhi, and competition between them increased as they went after the same targets and contracts.

In 1993, Balraj -- who based his operations in Mitrau village -- was arrested for the murder of two brothers, both flour mill owners, in Najafgarh. Along with him, Satish Dudha, Narender and Rajesh Dahiya (a Rohtak resident) were arrested and charged under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. However, the four were subsequently acquitted by a sessions court.

The four men were wanted in at least 21 cases of robbery, murder and attempt to murder, both in Delhi and Haryana.

At the time of their arrest, the police recovered guns of both English and Chinese make as well as grenades. They were booked under the Arms Act and TADA. The case is in court.

Balraj, however, was murdered in Janakpuri this year, allegedly by Kishan Pehalwan, who was arrested in this connection two months ago. Slain Samata Party candidate from the Nagloi Jat constituency -- Ved Singh -- began operating on his own following the arrest of Kishan Pehalwan.

The police has also found links between Kishan Pehalwan and Rajesh, the main accused in the kidnapping of the grandson of then Najafgarh MLA Suraj Paliwal, two years ago. Cases of murder and robbery have been lodged against them. The constant tension between the gangs was apparent again after the abduction and murder of Kishan Pehalwan's cousin Manjit Singh (18) and his friend Narender Pehalwan. Their bodies were found by a truck driver on June 30 in Rewari district on the Haryana-Rajasthan border.