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Jake Khan in Bombay
In a major setback to the Luxembourg-based ganglord Chhota Rajan, his second-in-command Om Prakash Singh was arrested by a special squad of the Delhi police on Monday.
Regarded as a close confidante of the fugitive don, Singh was based in Nepal and used to frequently visit India incognito. He was arrested in the plush Kalkaji area of south Delhi on Monday. The police recovered a pistol and six cartridges from his possession.
Hailing from a reputed family of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Singh's initiation into crime was by compulsion, said an officer of the crime intelligence unit of the Bombay police.
With a masters in organic chemistry from the Bombay University, Singh was employed as a quality control officer at the Mazgaon Docks until early nineties. His brother, Dr Arun Singh, was a professor at Ramniranjan Jhunjhunwala College at Ghatkopar in northeastern Bombay.
Once, when Dr Singh and Lal Singh Chauhan, a local corporator, were attending a family get-together at Pant Nagar, three sharpshooters from the Ashwin Naik gang opened fire at Chauhan injuring him seriously. An idealist, Dr Singh, agreed to testify against the shooters.
Naik then ordered a hit on Dr Arun Singh and the professor was ambushed while leaving the college. Seven men fired at Dr Singh killing him on the spot.
It was now O P Singh's turn to give a police statement that his brother was killed by Ashwin Naik's men. But soon he realised that he was being stalked by Naik men.
Singh sold off his Pantnagar house, gave up his job with the Bombay Port Trust and shifted to Vasai. However, Naik's men followed him there.
Around this time Singh took to heavy drinking. During one such drinking sessions, he came in contact with some Rajan men and bared his fears and insecurities to them. Always looking for men who shared their hatred for rival gangs, Rajan men got in touch with their boss and Singh was enlisted.
He started with small robberies, but soon graduated to abductions and murders. Soon he had cases against him at Goregaon, Pydhonie, Khar and Malabar Hill police stations.
Singh also built several police and political contacts for Rajan who was based in Malaysia then. Rajan then invited Singh to Kuala Lumpur and elevated him to the level of his advisor and planner.
After the aborted attempt on Chhota Rajan in Bangkok on September 15 last year by Shakeel men, Singh took charge of the gang and co-ordinated with Rajan's lawyers and the Thai media. Singh was also instrumental in Rajan's escape from the Smitivej Hospital on November 24.
According to the case built by the Delhi police, Singh is also accused of extortion in Surat in Gujrat and some other Indian cities.
With Singh's arrest, Rajan gang is crippled. Rajan's trusted aide, Guru Satam, has already split from the gang.
For the Bombay police, O P Singh's arrest is a positive development as it could help in cracking several unsolved cases. They plan to bring Singh to the city once the Delhi police and their Surat counterparts complete their investigations.
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