Gurugram, Dec 15
Special Task Force (STF) of Haryana Police took over the custody of gangster Vikas Lagarpuria from Central agencies at the IGI Airport in Delhi on Thursday.
Lagarpuria, the alleged mastermind of a multi-crore heist in Gurugram, was intercepted while trying to flee from Dubai where he had been hiding after his escape. However, he was caught and subsequently deported to India.
Later in the day, top STF officials claimed that Lagarpuria was arrested from the Delhi-Gurugram border.
The officials said that an STF team led by Inspector Anil Kumar - the in-charge of the STF unit Gurugram - arrested the criminal after receiving a tip-off.
"During the preliminary interrogation, he introduced himself as Deepak, a resident of Hisar. But on thorough interrogation of around 2 hours, he disclosed that his name was Vikas Lagarpuria," STF IG B. Satheesh Balan told the media.
Vikas Lagarpuria, a native of Badli in the Jhajjar district of Haryana, had a reward of Rs 2.50 lakh on his head. A reward of Rs 2 lakh had been announced by the Delhi Police and Rs 50,000 was declared by the Haryana Police on his arrest.
The criminal was involved in a multi-crore theft case of Rs 25-30 crore reported on August 21, 2021, which was stolen from the flat of Alpha G Corp Management Services Pvt. Ltd at Sector 84, Gurugram. The case was registered at the Kherki Daula police station in Gurugram.
The incident had taken place on August 4 of the previous year, when gangster Lagarpuriya's gang members broke into a flat in Sector-82 from where the office of a private company was being run. They had decamped with crores of rupees in cash.
Balan said at least 15 people, including henchmen of the gangster and a Delhi Police ASI, two doctors have been arrested, and Rs 5.78 crore, including foreign currency and gold, has been recovered.
"A number of 24 criminal cases was registered against him, including those of murder, attempt to murder, robbery, extortion, and kidnapping in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. He was also booked under MCOCA," Balan said.
Then deputy commissioner of police (south) of the Haryana police, Dheeraj Setia has been accused of taking a bribe from Dr Suchender Jain Nawal to hush up the matter.
During the investigation, it was found that Lagarpuria, in connivance with another main accused, Dr Suchender Jain Nawal, had allegedly planned the heist. The investigation also revealed that the arrested ASI Vikas Gulia was Lagarpuria's childhood friend and allegedly sheltered him from the Delhi Police," the officials said.
"Dheeraj Setia's lie detector test was conducted a week ago in Delhi report of which is awaited. Meanwhile, the arrested accused will be produced before a local court for further investigations," Balan added.
The officer said, "We are yet to ascertain information about the remaining amount from the accused as he has been frequently changing his statements and not cooperating with the investigation agency. The accused took more than two hours to disclose his identity."
