GURGAON: Dreaded gangster Pradeep Lohar alias Kala (30), who carried a reward of Rs 1.5 lakh on his head, was arrested from Sector 23 in Noida on Saturday night. The Special Task Force (STF) of Haryana Police, which picked up Lohar, said he was the prime accused in the murder of gangster Pradeep Jamawadi and his mother who were shot in Hisar in 2017.Lohar, according to the task force, is a parole jumper and is wanted in around two dozen cases in Delhi, Hisar, Rohtak, Kaithal, Karnal, Bhiwani, Jind and Jhajjar . He was arrested after a 15-day-long chase by the STF, police said, adding that no weapon was recovered from his possession at the time of his arrest.Lohar had been on the run since 2017 after the murder of Jamawadi and his mother, and had been active in the crime scene since 2002 when he started working for the Jamawadi gang, which was the most notorious gang in Hisar range. In 2002, he was booked for a dozen crimes — including a murder in Bhawanikheda area of Bhiwani — in different districts of Haryana. He was arrested and convicted for the murder in 2003, and was awarded life imprisonment.Lohar was released on parole in 2007, but soon started committing crimes in several districts. In the meantime, when his mentor and gang head Jamawadi got arrested, he gradually took over the reins of the gang and its operations.In 2017, Jamawadi came out of jail on parole and tried to take control of the gang. “Over some differences with Jamawadi, Lohar killed him and his mother,” said Satheesh Balan, DIG, STF, adding that Lohar was also in touch with other gangs in the state.Born to an ironsmith, Lohar was an expert in making pistols and other arms. “He also used to supply arms to other gangs,” said Balan, adding that for last few years he had been extorting money from people. Lohar’s arrest has come as a big achievement for the police who hope that it will help them resolve many cases.Lohar had been hiding for last one-and-a-half years and spent most of his time during this period in Himachal Pradesh. “He used to make friends on Facebook and visited them for some days.He also used to stay at several ashrams. Meanwhile, he posed as an armature wrestler and stayed at akhadas in Himachal,” said Balan. Lohar made his base in Delhi and spent most of his time in the hills.“With his arrest, activities of most criminals in Hisar range have been neutralised,” said Balan, adding that the STF is now focusing on a few wanted gangsters in Gurugram. Gangster Kaushal, who had recently made extortion calls to a Congress leader and some others in the last few months, is also on the STF’s radar. Kaushal, a most wanted criminal, has been absconding since 2016.“He (Kaushal) had made several extortion calls. Some of them were reported by media while some others have not been reported, but they are in the knowledge of STF,” Balan said, reiterating that teams are working to tackle gangsters and organised crimes in the region.With the arrest of Lohar, the STF nabbed four notorious criminals in the last four days. The task force had on Friday arrested dreaded criminals Anshul Singh and Ankit for allegedly looting Rs 20 lakh from a liquor businessman in Pataudi. The men, according to the investigators, were plotting two murders in Kheda village and Badshapur before being caught. The duo, who had several cases registered against them, were nabbed after a dramatic chase and shootout on Najafgarh Road in Bahadurgarh. Two country-made pistols, three live rounds and one two-wheeler were recovered from them.Fearing that they would be caught, Anshul jumped off a flyover in a bid to escape and sustained injries in his leg. He was unable to move after that. Meanwhile, Ankit was chased down and caught by an STF team. The STF also picked up Ishwar alias Pali, who carried a reward of Rs1 lakh on his head from Ratoli village in Rohtak following a bried chase on Thursday. A country-made pistol was found on him.

Stay updated with all the Latest Gurgaon headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.