New Delhi, Jul 14 (IANS): On July 8 a group of officers from the Delhi Police special cell were taking positions in a crowded market in Siliguri, West Bengal. For the team it was a golden opportunity to nab one of the 'most wanted' criminals.
Sandeep Dhillon, who was involved in 22 cases of murder, extortion, dacoity and robbery, had escaped from the police custody in February 2018 when he was brought for a dental checkup at the Maulana Azad Medical College Hospital in Delhi.
His associates threw chilly powder in the eyes of the cops escorting him and took Dhillon away.
The police arrested him in Siliguri after he was identified in the market.
While Dhillon's name was struck off from the 'wanted' list, the Delhi Police, according to sources, is on the look out for others who are either on the run or have gone underground.
"We are in the process of updating the 'most wanted' list. Many who figured in the list have been arrested," said a senior Delhi Police officer.
After the Vikas Dubey episode, the police of several states have intensified efforts to flush out hardened criminals from their hideouts.
Dubey and his gang slaughtered 8 policemen in Bikru village of Kanpur. A hot chase to nab the gangster, who had gone underground after the crime, forced him to surface at a temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh.
He was later gunned down in an encounter in Kanpur, UP, after he allegedly tried to flee.
Earlier, Jitender Maan alias Gogi (29), one of the most-wanted gangsters of Delhi, who carried Rs 6.5 lakh bounty on his head, was arrested by the Delhi Police along with his three accomplices from Gurugram in March.
The Delhi Police claim to have recently unearthed extortion rackets, being operated from Tihar Jail.
In the recent shoot-outs in Delhi, over a dozen criminals have been incapacitated.
According to the Delhi Police, 8 kidnappings for ransom were reported up to June 15 against 7 during the year-ago period. A total of 236 cases of attempt to murder were reported during the same period against 218 last year. 2,612 cases of snatching and 2,436 heinous crime cases have been recorded during the period.