Wanted gangster shot dead in Andheri

A wanted gangster with a vast criminal record was shot dead in an encounter carried out secretly by Gurgaon crime branch (CB) at a hotel in Andheri (east) on Sunday morning.

The accused opened fire at the two constables injuring both and in retaliation they shot him dead. The Haryana government had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for his arrest. He was wanted in multiple cases of murder, attempt to murder, dacoity, robbery, kidnapping among 34 crime cases from Haryana.

The accused Sandip Gadoli (32) ran his own gang in Haryana and used to collect haftas (weekly bribe). He was on the run after shooting a person to death in Haryana last October. Acting on a tip off about Gadoli’s whereabouts, the Gurgaon CB team comprising eight members, including an inspector, sub inspector and constables started trailing him. Gadoli was travelling in his white Scorpio car along with two aides, a woman and two women suspected to be from Russia.

On Saturday night, they reached Mumbai and were staying at the two-storied Airport Metro hotel in a lane near Airport Metro station in Andheri (east).

While Gadoli was staying with the woman, his aides were staying in another room on the first floor. Around 11 am, a small team from the Gurgaon CB went up to Gadoli’s room while the remaining blocked the hotel’s exits and his room’s window.

Head constable Paramjit Alavat (40) and constable Vikram Singh (30) were at the front. Alavat knocked on the door. Gadoli opened it and after realising that he has been nabbed, Gadoli started firing from his pistol. Alavat ducked but the bullet brushed past his head piercing his skin on the forehead. The two tried to overpower him but he fired another shot, which hit Singh’s foot. The policemen then opened fire and Gadoli took four bullets on his body and died on his way to the hospital.

The woman who was in his room is said to be the prime witness. Some part of the incident has been captured on the CCTV surveillance and the MIDC police has seized the equipment. The two aides of the deceased have been arrested. They were unarmed. All the three women have been detained for questioning.

The CB team was well aware that Gadoli is armed and hence had brought an AK 47, a revolver and a pistol with them. Incidentally, the team chose not to take help from local MIDC police station, located less than a kilometre away from the spot. DCP, zone X, Vinayak Deshmukh said, “Ideally, they should have informed us. They said they had intimated the police control room.” A police inspector from MIDC said, “As per police norms, they should have informed us but there is no such law which mandates them to keep local police in the loop.”

Gadoli had fooled the hotel authorities by giving a fake photo ID, which identified him as Rishab Singh. The CB team got his whereabouts in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, about 22 kilometres from Gurgaon. They started trailing his car from Friday. He reached Mumbai from Jaipur. Paramjit has been treated and discharged hours later while Singh is admitted at Cooper and is stable. An FIR has been registered posthumously against Gadoli under IPC sections of attempt to murder and under relevant sections of Arms Act.