Police arrest convicted criminal out on parole

Several teams of the Delhi Police were looking for Thakur for the past few days after his wife informed the Police Control Room about a cache of arms he had hidden at their Pandav Nagar residence, police said.

On August 14, Thakur’s wife called the police control room to complain about her husband, who she said had left the house after assaulting her. When police reached her house, she reportedly broke down in front of them and showed them five automatic and three countrymade pistols, along with 100 cartridges, he had kept there.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police(South) PS Kushwah said police had been working on intelligence to trace the accused.
“We received an input that Thakur would come from Meerut and go towards Gurgaon area along Barapullah Road in the evening in a white Alto. Our team also got the specific number of the car in which he was travelling and started checking the vehicles by putting up temporary barricades at Barapullah Road in Lodhi Colony area,” he said.

Around 7.30 pm, police spotted the vehicle and signalled it to stop, but Thakur tried to flee. “Our team overpowered him and did not let him fire any shot. We recovered an automatic .32-bore loaded pistol from his possession,” the officer said.

Police said since his parole on May 5 this year, Thakur had allegedly bought firearms and ammunition from several persons in Delhi and Meerut.

Police alleged Thakur had been planning to settle scores with rival gangs and was preparing for a gang war.

While no police officer was willing to come on record, Thakur is believed to have been in touch with Firoz alias Fauzi, who was gunned down by the Special Cell in an encounter on Tuesday morning. Sources said Thakur was actively in touch with the gang members of underworld don Fazal-ur, Rehman alias Fazlu. Investigators believe after coming out of jail, Thakur was being helped by members of Fazlu’s gang.

In the past, Thakur had been arrested for a house robbery in Meerut. Later, he killed the owner and his two sons to avenge his arrest. He was arrested in 1992 by Delhi Police for the murder of a police informer.