NEW DELHI: Three gangsters of Lawrence Bishnoi and Virender Pratap a.k.a. Kala Rana syndicate were arrested here on Thursday after a brief exchange of fire, the police said.
The gangsters were identified as Vivek Puri, 22 -- a resident of Bihar's Gopalganj district, Prashant Hinjrao, 24 -- a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Hapur district, and Ashwini Kumar, 25 -- a resident of Kurukshetra, Haryana.
The encounter took place at around 7.15 p.m at Simon Bolivar Road near Buddha Garden in Delhi.
A Special Cell official said a tip-off was received about the presence of the gangsters after which a trap was laid on Simon Bolivar Road.
When they reached there in their Scorpio car, they were signalled by the police to stop but they tried to escape.
"As they found themselves surrounded from all side, they started firing at the police team. Vivek Puri and Prashant came out of their car and began unprovoked firing. The police also retaliated and fired one shot, " the official said.
Later they were overpowered.
According to the police, a total of 3 rounds of fire were exchanged between the police and the gangsters of which two were fired by the accused while police fired one shot in retaliation.
The official said that the arrested gangsters have been found actively associated with the dreaded gang of Lawrence Bishnoi and Kala Rana for the last four years.
Puri and Prashant, along with six of their other associates including Kala Rana, have been found earlier arrested in a sensational case of murder, attempt to murder and robbery in Ambala, Haryana in 2018.
In that case, the accused had forcibly entered a jewellery showroom and had fired on the employees to commit a robbery.
On resistance by the workers of the showroom, the accused fired indiscriminately, killing one person and seriously injuring another.
Sharing more details about Puri's previous involvements, the official said the accused with his associates is wanted in four cases of extortion in Gopalganj district in Bihar.
He had demanded extortion money from many businessmen, jewellers, shop owners, medical store owners and other well-off persons in Bihar in the last four months in the name of Lawrence Bishnoi.
He was also previously arrested in many more such cases of extortion and robbery, murder, attempt to murder, assault, intimidation, arms act, etc., in Bihar, Punjab and Haryana, said the official.
Prashant was previously involved in 4 criminal cases including that of murder, attempt to murder, robbery, assault and arms act in Haryana and Punjab.
Ashwini was involved in cases of arms supplying in Haryana and Punjab. He used to supply firearms and ammunition to the gang members of Lawrence Bishnoi and Kala Rana.