Meerut: Two days after western Uttar Pradesh don Badan Singh Baddo escaped from police custody in Meerut, his close associate and the region’s most dreaded gangster Sushil Mooch made a surprise surrender in a Muzaffarnagar court. It was earlier believed that Mooch – pioneer of organized crime in western UP and Uttarakhand who carries a reward of Rs 1 lakh – had helped Baddo made a Bollywood-style escape from a hotel in Meerut on Thursday.According to police, Mooch, 65-year-old son of a former Delhi Police sub-inspector, has 52 criminal cases registered against him in UP, Uttarakhand and Haryana, including 17 murder and 10 attempt to murder cases.Until mid-eighties, police did not even have his photograph and could arrest him for the first time only in 2012 – 39 years after he committed his first crime. However, in the nineties, Mooch used to turn himself in, secure bail and disappear at his own convenience, said sources.One of the many reasons attributed to his ability to evade arrest was that the old-fashioned gangster never carried a mobile phone and always travelled alone."Even on Saturday, Mooch was not recognised in the courtroom until he identified himself and turned himself in," a source said.His gang, which specialized in extortion racket, contract killings, liquor business, procuring lucrative contracts from sugar mills and later TV cable distribution business, is said to possess sophisticated weapons, including AK-47 rifles.One of the most important roles he played in the region’s underworld was to provide patronage to young criminals, including Baddo, who ran their own syndicates.According to Brijesh Singh, circle officer, Special Task Force, “There have been many killings executed either by Mooch or at his behest and most of his crime activities were around Muzaffarnagar with a few in Dehradun, Haridwar and Kurukshetra. In fact, during the nineties, Mooch operated from jails and eliminated over a dozen of his adversaries.”During the same period, Badan Singh Baddo joined hands with Mooch to control cable TV business in Meerut. Together they were involved in a string of murders.According to insiders, Baddo, who spread his businesses in India and abroad, may have helped Mooch buy properties in Australia too.Muzaffarnagar SP (city) Satpal Antil said, “There was a sharp decline in his gang’s criminal activities in the past few years. One of his sons is in jail while the other one carries a reward of Rs 25,000.”Additional director general (Meerut zone) Prashant Kumar said, “Considering his high-profile, we are planning to move Mooch to a different district jail away from Muzaffarnagar.”

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