Delhi Police foil extortion plot, attack on Bollywood celebrity; two held

NEW DELHI, (IANS): In a major breakthrough against organised crime syndicates, the Delhi Police Special Cell has successfully thwarted an extortion plot and also averted an attack on a famous Bollywood actor by arresting two individuals, one of them from Mumbai, officials said on Saturday.

The police team, led by Inspector Pankaj Chauhan and Inspector Suresh Chand Chaudhary, under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Vivek Tyagi, arrested a key operative of the syndicate who had arrived in Delhi to execute a targeted shooting on a prominent local businessman on the instructions of a foreign based gangster.

The accused has been identified as Vikas Thakur alias Vicky.

Following the initial arrest, swift intelligence-led coordination resulted in the apprehension of his co-accused Deep alias Deepak Singh from Mumbai, preventing a major planned attack on famous Bollywood actor planned by a fugitive foreign-based gangster, police said.

Deep alias Deepak Singh is also an accused in the alleged murder of Instagram influencer Mad Sandhu in Punjab and had been evading arrest since then.

A criminal case under an FIR dated November 3 under Section 25 of the Arms Act has been registered at Delhi Special Cell Police Station after the arrest of accused Vikas Thakur.

According to police, while Vikas Thakur alias Vicky is a resident of Punjab's Jalandhar, Deep alias Deepak Singh is from Tarn Taran.

Investigators said that Thakur had started working for a fugitive foreign-based gangster and was tasked with shooting a famous Bollywood actor in Mumbai.

During this period, another shooter of this fugitive foreign-based gangster, namely Deep alias Deepak Singh, was hiding in Mumbai after executing the high-profile murder of Instagram influencer Mad Sandhu.

Earlier, on October 3, Deep, along with his associate Palwinder alias Kaka, targeted Instagram influencer Mad Sandhu in Amritsar, on the instructions of the same fugitive foreign-based gangster. Sandhu lost his life in the attack and Palwinder was arrested by the Punjab Police.

Subsequently, Deep took harbour in Mumbai while evading his arrest.

The police said that on the instructions from the aforesaid gangster, accused Deep alias Deepak Singh was asked to prolong his hiding so that he can execute the attack on the Bollywood actor over the latter's alleged anti-Sikh remarks in 1984.

Most recently, Vikas Thakur took another assignment of shooting a local businessman in Delhi after getting linked with another foreign-based gangster. He introduced Deep to this gangster.

Thereafter, as per their plan, Thakur travelled from Mumbai to Delhi to carry out an extortion-driven shooting on a local businessman and Deep was supposed to join him later.

Both accused were intercepted by the Delhi Police Special Cell before they could carry out the crime.