Haryana gangster who used Facebook for extortion arrested at IGI Airport

GURGAON/CHANDIGARH: The special task force (STF) of Haryana Police on Saturday arrested notorious gangster Raju aka Raj Kumar Basodi, who is linked to the inter-state criminal gang operated by Lawrence Bishnoi, after he was deported from Thailand.Basodi, who is also wanted by the police forces in Rajasthan, Punjab, Chandigarh and Delhi, was arrested from Delhi’s IGI Airport by Haryana STF at around 7am on Saturday after it was alerted by immigration officials.
The gangster is wanted in more than two dozen criminal cases, including 13 cases of murder, three cases of attempt to murder and around a dozen cases of robbery, extortion and dacoity.
Haryana Police had announced a combined reward of Rs 2.5 lakh for information leading to his arrest.
Sonipat and Jhajjar police had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh each and Rohtak police Rs 50,000. The gangster, a resident of Basodi village in Sonipat district, is closely associated with gangsters like Bishnoi, Sampat Nehra, Anil Chippi, Akshay Palra and Naresh Sethi, who all are lodged in different jails.
His close associate Sandeep alias Kala Jatheri recently escaped from police custody in Faridabad.
When asked why the gangster had been deported and not extradited from Thailand, Haryana STF chief B Sathish Balan told TOI, “This is a question of diplomatic relations and understanding between the two nations. Hence, we cannot disclose much.”
An Interpol look-out circular for Basodi had been issued recently on the request of Haryana STF. Basodi, who had fled to Thailand in 2017 after he jumped bail, used social media platforms, especially Facebook, to intimidate targets for extortion. His gang was involved in extortion calls to a number of persons in Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab and Delhi.
The gang, according to police inputs, recently carried out broad daylight murders of their rivals at Malot in Punjab and at Manimajra in Chandigarh.
Raju was arrested earlier this month by the Thai police on basis of inputs provided by the Haryana STF. According to the dossier prepared by Haryana police, Raju is wanted in 30 cases registered in Haryana and Delhi. Details of cases registered against him are awaited from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Raju, who hails from Basodi village of Sonipat district, first made headlines after he killed two persons and pumped 19 bullets into a person in police custody. He started working with gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who is lodged in a jail in Jodhpur city of Rajasthan, after fleeing to Thailand.
His arrest is being seen as a huge success for the Haryana STF. He shall be produced in a court and police will seek his remand for custodial interrogation that is likely to give leads about whereabouts of Jatheri and help in solving criminal cases, said an official.
Last November, STF Gurgaon had arrested another member named Pawan of the same gang who was a known sharpshooter. He was notorious for the brutal way of murdering people by shooting them several times. He was wanted in 11 cases of murder, with seven of them being in 2019.