Police to issue alerts on Mewat gangs kidnapping, sodomising businessmen

City police are gearing up to launch a campaign to warn people about criminal gangs from Haryana's Mewat region that kidnap businessmen after luring them with phony deals and then sodomise them to ensure they don't approach the authorities.

Officials say the notorious syndicates have gone hi-tech and are now hooking their prey with online advertisements of lucrative opportunities, such as sale of scrap material. Prospective buyers are called to busy areas like the airport or a railway station and then abducted, followed by ransom demands to families.

Awareness drive

According to Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner (crime) in Delhi Police, more such cases are reported in Haryana than in the Capital. "This is a new modus operandi. They normally target businessmen from Gujarat and Maharashtra," he said.

The issue was discussed and a decision made to initiate an awareness drive at a meeting chaired by Delhi Police commissioner Alok Verma and attended by top cops from Gurugram and Uttar Pradesh.

Analysts say many people of from the nondescript town of Mewat in the foothills of the Aravalis indulge in crimes because of a lack of jobs as their traditional occupations like slaughtering cows and mining have been banned.

Modus operandi

The crime branch cracked the first such case by rescuing a Gujarat-based businessman who was abducted by a Mewati gang last year.

"After reaching Old Delhi railway station, the victim and an employee boarded a Tata Safari vehicle that had been brought by the purported dealer. Subsequently, they were taken to a village at gunpoint where they were kept as hostages and confined. The businessman told them that he was not the owner of the trading firm and they were only employees," Delhi Police said.

Another such incident was reported at the city's Jamia Nagar police station. "A businessman was lured by a woman who asked him to meet her. Later, the businessman was kidnapped by a Mewati gang and they started demanding ransom from his family. Finally, south-east police rescued him," area DCP MS Randhawa told MAIL TODAY.

The gangs were earlier known to only operate at night and were involved in petty offences like cattle-lifting and bike theft. They often hit back at cops when cornered.

Joint police action

At the meeting, Delhi's police chief Verma also said that joint action against interstate criminals and sharing of information of their activities would help in keeping an eye on such crews involved in heinous crimes as well as repeat offenders.

He also stressed on the need for exchange of information at senior levels to make the operations successful. Verma instructed that a small "action group" be constituted to exchange information and to initiate action against organised criminals operating through the Internet.

"CP Delhi discussed about the crime trends such as status of hardened criminals from Mewat area. He advised to issue advisories for public awareness about new trends such as online advertisement about sale of scrap/equipment to lure prospective buyers and call them to airport/railway station, and demand ransom after taking them hostages," an official communication of Delhi Police said.

Fear

Cops are also facing problems in detecting such cases as many victims are not coming forward to register FIRs.

"While investigating one such case, we also found that a businessman who paid heavy ransom didn't file a report. He was threatened by the Mewati gangs of making public a video of the victim being sodomised," a senior police official said.