New Delhi, March 4 Continuing its offensive to dismantle to the nexus among terrorists, gangsters and narcotics smugglers, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) attached four properties owned by members of 'organised crime' syndicates in Haryana and one in Delhi, an official said on Saturday.
"These attachments and seizures have been done in the wake of the recent searches conducted at 76 locations linked with gangsters and their associates in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi, NCR in February 2023," the official said.
The NIA had registered cases against three major organised crime syndicates under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in August 2022 who had spread their networks in the northern states and were involved in many sensational crimes, such as the murder of popular singer Sidhu Moosewala. They were also involved in largescale extortions from businessmen and professionals.
"Their crimes included killing of Maharashtra builder, Sanjay Biyani, and Sandeep Nangal Ambia, an international Kabbadi organiser in Punjab. Many of these conspiracies were found to have been masterminded from abroad, including Pakistan and Canada, or by leaders of organised criminal syndicates based inside jails," the official said.
The official said that the properties attached were found to be 'proceeds of terrorism', which were used for hatching terror conspiracies and execution of crimes.
The properties attached by the NIA include a house of Asif Khan in Delhi, a house and agricultural land in three different locations belonging to Surender Singh alias Chiku in Haryana's Mahendragarh district.
Khan was in providing weapons and logistics support to gangsters, while Chiku is a close associate of Naresh Sethi, Anil Chippi and Raju Basodi, notorious mafia leaders, who were earlier arrested by the NIA.
Chiku had been involved in multiple criminal cases of murder, kidnapping and extortion. He has been instrumental in investing the 'proceeds of terror and crime' in real estate and other businesses.
The probe agency said that the drive to disrupt and dismantle such terror and mafia networks would be intensified in the coming days.
atk/sha
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