Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi

New Delhi, Nov 30: New Delhi, Nov 30: In a major breakthrough, Delhi Police have arrested three members of a notorious gang that murdered taxi drivers between 1999 and 2001 and smuggled their vehicles to Nepal for sale. The accused — Dhirendra Tomar, his brother Dhiraj Tomar, and accomplice Ajay Lamba — were finally arrested after evading police for 25 years. A fourth member, Dilip Negi, had been arrested earlier.

According to police, the gang would hire taxis from stands, drug the drivers using chloroform during the journey, and then strangulate them. The bodies were dumped in drains while the stolen vehicles were taken to Nepal and sold in the grey market. Their method was described as highly dangerous and meticulously planned.

Dhirendra and Dilip were sentenced to life imprisonment on October 1, 2007, while Dhiraj and Lamba were declared absconders. Dhiraj managed to live for years under a fake identity. For a long time, police failed to trace him despite extensive investigation in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, where the Tomar family lived.

During early inquiries, a man named Raj Singh had identified himself as the cousins of Dhiraj and Dhirendra. Police later discovered that before 2003, no records of any ‘Raj Singh’ existed in the Tomar family. Yet, Raj had regularly visited Dhirendra in jail along with their mother until 2011.

A major breakthrough came on May 25 this year when Inspector Rakesh Sharma and his team arrested Dhirendra from Bareilly. He had been living under the name ‘Rajan’, working as a driver and living with his wife at a relative’s house. In July, police nabbed Ajay Lamba outside Patiala House Court where he had appeared for a hearing in a 2021 narcotics case.

During interrogation, Dhirendra revealed that the mysterious ‘Raj Singh’ was actually his brother Dhiraj living under disguise. Police then reviewed the old records of their father, Harpal Singh Tomar, and planned the arrest based on pension withdrawal patterns — the same method used earlier to catch Dhirendra.

On November 25, police received information that Dhiraj would be withdrawing his mother’s Army pension. A team led by Inspector Sharma and ACP Umesh Barthwal reached Sikanderpur Kala in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. On Thursday, the 45-year-old came to the bank with his mother, where he was immediately arrested.

DCP Crime Pankaj Kumar stated that Dhiraj was educated only up to Class 8 and was in his early twenties when the murders took place. He was involved in four killings along with the other gang members. The gang initially operated out of Haldwani in Uttarakhand, targeting its first taxi driver in 1999, followed by murders in Almora and Champawat. On March 17, 2001, the gang attacked two more drivers. A PCR call to New Ashok Nagar police station had reported two unconscious men lying near a garbage dump in Mayur Vihar Phase III. One of the taxi drivers later died during treatment.

With the recent arrests, police believe they have finally closed one of the most chilling and long-running murder cases linked to inter-state vehicle smuggling rackets.