New Delhi: Special Cell of the Delhi Police arrested one of the most wanted gangsters of Delhi from Mexico on Monday, the police informed on Tuesday. According to the senior officials, the operation was conducted with the assistance of the Legal Attache, American Embassy, Delhi.
“This is the first time that the Delhi Police has arrested a criminal from abroad”, HGS Dhaliwal, Special CP (Special Cell) said. The accused Deepak Pahal aka Boxer is a native of Haryana’s Sonipat and an associate of the jailed gangster Lawrance Bishnoi.
He was once a national-level boxer and won several medals. The Delhi Police had announced a reward of
Rs 3 lakh on Deepak Boxer as he was on the run since he murdered a realtor in August 2022. The builder, Amit Gupta, was shot several times on a busy road in Delhi’s Civil Lines area.
Deepak Boxer became the head of Jitender Gogi’s gang after the latter was shot dead inside a courtroom in Delhi’s Rohini court complex by two men dressed as lawyers, who were members of his rival Sunil Maan alias Tillu Tajpuriya’s gang, on September 24, 2021. He had also helped in fleeing Jitender Gogi from police custody from Haryana.
Deepak was absconding since September 22, and earlier he was arrested and he was serving his sentence but later released on parole and never returned. “In this series, after the work reviews of Delhi Police in August 2022, the Home Minister had given special instructions to the Special Cell and Crime Branch to legally pursue organised criminals and terrorists trying to hide in any corner of the country or abroad and arrest them. Arresting dangerous fugitive criminal Deepak Boxer from Mexico and bringing him to India is a big success in this direction”, Dhaliwal said.
The operation was launched after the Special Cell received a tip-off about Deepak Boxer out of India. Investigation revealed that Deepak, after fleeing India on a fake passport, reached Mexico in the South American continent, stopping in several countries. His intention behind reaching Mexico was to reach America with the help of human traffickers where he would join his other associates and from there he would continue to run the activities of his organised crime group spread in Delhi and neighbouring states, Dhaliwal mentioned.
They said after the confirmation of Deepak’s arrival in Mexico, in the second phase of this operation, the process of finding him in Mexico started in cooperation with America’s Legal Attache, American Embassy, Delhi and Mexico Police. Later, it was learned from a source that Deepak got a fake passport made in the name of Ravi Antil from Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, and with his help, he fled abroad in January 2023 from Kolkata airport.
Deepak was traced to the beach city of Cancun, Mexico. The Mexican administration was requested to deport him as soon as possible as Deepak reached Mexico. The Indian Embassy in Mexico City also joined the process, and a team of experienced field officers from the Delhi Police was immediately sent to Mexico City, the official said.
Further, the investigation will continue, Dhaliwal added.