Amid crackdown by NIA in parts of north India, premises of jailed gangster Naresh Sethi raided

The National Investigation Agency in the early hours of Tuesday morning raided the house of infamous gangster Naresh Sethi as a part of the central agency's mega operation conducted yesterday across the four states of northern India.

The central agency along with local police raided the premises of jailed gangster Naresh Sethi. "The illegal property and bank details of Sethi were also investigated", said officials. Adding that the raid was conducted for five hours and the relatives were also interrogated during the operation.

The National Investigation Agency also searched the premises of Surender alias Cheeku of Narnaul in Haryana; Naveen alias Bali of Bawana in Delhi; Amit alias Dabang of Tajpur in Outer Delhi; Amit Dagar of Gurugram in Haryana; Sandeep alias Bandar, Salim alias Pistol of North-East Delhi; Qurban and Rizwan Khurja of Bulandshahr in UP and their associates.

Earlier today, in a second such mega operation conducted within a span of 36 days to dismantle and disrupt the emerging nexus between terrorists, gangsters and drug smugglers based in India and abroad, the NIA carried out searches at 52 locations in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi as well as the National Capital Region (NCR).

The locations raided by the NIA included Abohar, Bhatinda, Muktsar Sahab, Moga, Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Mohali districts of Punjab; East Gurugram, Bhiwani, Yamuna Nagar, Sonepat, Mahendragarh, Manesar, Rewari, Rohtak and Jhajjar districts of Haryana; Churu, Bharatpur and Alwar districts of Rajasthan; Noida, Bulanshehar and Sonbhadra districts as well as Dwarka, Outer North, Central, Outer and North East districts of Delhi and NCR.

During the searches, five pistols and revolvers were seized, along with ammunition, which includes a cache of four pistols from the house of Asif Khan, an advocate, a residence of Gautam Vihar, Usmanpur in North East Delhi, said the agency, adding "he was connected with various gangsters of Haryana and Delhi"."Few weapons in semi-knocked down condition have also been recovered during these raids," said the NIA.

Apart from these, incriminating documents, digital devices, details about Benami property created through proceeds of crime, cash, gold bars and gold jewellery from Khurja, Bulandshahar (UP), and threat letters were also seized by the NIA.

The Central agency said that these raids were carried out to "dismantle and disrupt the emerging nexus between terrorists, gangsters and drug smugglers/traffickers based in India and abroad".

"A few of the most desperate gang leaders and their associates based in India and abroad, who are spearheading and carrying out such terror and criminal activities were identified and booked in two cases registered by the NIA in August this year," said the NIA.

This was the second round of raids and searches conducted by the NIA as part of its crackdown on top gangsters, their criminal and business associates based in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan and arms suppliers based in UP, Rajasthan and Delhi.

The NIA also arrested one Rajesh alias Raju Mota who hails from Basaudi, Sonepat (Haryana).Mota, according to the NIA, has multiple criminal cases registered against him.

"Raju Mota is running an illegal liquor mafia network in Sonepat and surrounding areas, along with his associates. He is an accomplice of Sandeep alias Kala Jathedi, who is a dreaded gangster of Haryana," the NIA said in a statement.

"Raju Mota has also invested a huge amount of money in the liquor business which he has earned through illegitimate means," it added.

On September 12, the NIA had also searched 50 locations in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and NCR region.

The NIA crackdown followed the launch of investigations against this nexus by the anti-terror agency after the re-registration of two cases, earlier registered by Delhi Police, on August 26 this year. A few of the most desperate gang leaders and their associates based in India and abroad, who are spearheading and carrying out such terror and criminal activities were identified and booked.

( With inputs from ANI )