Gangster-terrorist nexus: NIA arrests resident of Sirsa's Chautala village, was giving shelter to criminals

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 10

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today arrested major logistics provider Chhotu Ram Bhaat as part of its probe into cases relating to terrorist-gangster nexus.

A spokesperson of the NIA said Bhaat, a resident of Chautala village of Sirsa in Haryana, was arrested on Monday on the allegations that he was acting a weapons supplier and was also providing hideouts to the gangsters of the Bambiha group before and after different crimes committed by them.

“The arrest is aimed at dismantling the illegal arms support infrastructure, apart from the hideouts of absconders of the Bambiha-led terror-criminal syndicate. They were taking advantage of the border location of their hideout with Punjab,” the official said, adding that further investigations would continue to dismantle such terror networks as well as their funding and support infrastructure.

The spokesperson said: “On December 21, 2022, the NIA conducted searches at two locations in Sirsa (including the house of Chhotu Bhaat in Chautala village) to dismantle and disrupt the emerging nexus between terrorists, gangsters and weapon suppliers based in India and abroad.”

A few of the most desperate gang leaders and their associates based in India and abroad, who are spearheading and carrying out such terror and criminal activities, were identified and booked in the two cases registered by the NIA in August 2022, the official said, adding that this was part of the agency’s crackdown on “top gangster and their weapons suppliers based in Haryana and Punjab in general”.

The NIA’s probe into the cases is aimed at identifying critical elements of the support infrastructure of terror-criminal syndicate and subsequently, taking decisive action against those involved, the official noted.

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