The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Key suspect planned a similar crime — except her target never showed up
WEEKS BEFORE 26-year-old Aman Joon was “lured” to Burger King in Rajouri Garden and shot dead by gangster Himanshu Bhau’s henchmen, another man was to meet a similar fate. The motive? To settle scores with the man’s cousin, who was a member of a rival gang.
This man, the Delhi Police said, had a lucky escape as he never showed up at the assigned meeting spot.
In both cases, police said, there was a common link — a woman, 24-year-old Anu Dhankar and Bhau’s close associate, who befriended the two men, Joon and Amit Malik, online. In Joon’s case, the woman succeeded in “luring” him to the food outlet where two men killed him, firing 39 bullets, on June 18. In Malik’s case, police said, Dhankar asked him to meet her at a restaurant in Mukherjee Nagar a few weeks ago.
“But Malik couldn’t come. He had to attend to something urgent. He didn’t suspect anything though,” said an officer of the Special Cell, which is probing the case after it was transferred to them from the West district.
Why did police question Malik regarding the Rajouri Garden murder case? “We found out that the woman (Dhankar) was in regular touch with him. His number appeared in her phone’s CDR (call detail records) many times. We checked his antecedents and called him for questioning,” the officer said.
“We got to know Malik’s cousin Amit Baiswal is part of the Rajesh Sarkari gang... and is a close associate of Sarkari. We questioned him as to why he was in touch with Dhankar,” the police officer said.
In fact, police suspected a new twist in the murder case after this revelation. “We understood Malik was a target — Bhau had assigned Dhankar to lure him too. She was in touch with Joon and Malik simultaneously.”
A senior officer of the Special Cell told The Indian Express that “the bitter rivalry between the Bhau and Sarkari gangs was the motive for targeting Malik”.
Police have recorded Malik’s statement. “During questioning, he claimed Dhankar got in touch with him through Instagram. Malik told us that he spoke to her a few times and then she asked him to meet her. They met twice at a hotel near Rajouri Garden...” the officer said.
“He told us Anu asked him to arrange a one-to-one meeting between her brother, who she claimed was posted with the Delhi Police’s Special Cell, and Baiswal,” said an officer.
To ward off any suspicion of her gang links, the officer said, “She told Malik that her brother wanted to discuss a case... as Baiswal is active in Rohtak and not in Delhi. She assured him it was not a police trap.”
To be sure, Dhankar has a brother who is in the police force.
When Dhankar asked Malik to meet her at the restaurant near her PG, police said she had allegedly planned to rope in other associates of Bhau and carry out a similar killing as Joon’s. “Malik didn’t turn up. It is not clear if the same two men involved in the
Burger King incident were roped in in Malik’s case. It is being verified,” the officer said.
Where is Dhankar?
Dhankar and the two shooters are yet to be arrested.
Her last known location was at Jammu’s Katra Railway Station, where she was caught on CCTV on June 20 — two days after the West Delhi incident. With a scarf covering her face, footage showed her carrying a suitcase and a backpack and briskly walking towards the platform.
How did sleuths from the Crime Branch and Special Cell know she was in J&K?
A senior officer from the Crime Branch, said, “Dhankar reached Katra after taking different routes via road and train. She tried to stay at a girls’ hostel, but the person in charge asked for her ID card... she didn’t have one. The person asked her to call her parents or a relative to get her identity verified. Dhankar said she needed an internet connection to call over Whatsapp.”
The officer added that the moment Dhankar connected to the hostel’s Wifi, sleuths of the Crime Branch and Special Cell knew where she was as they had been keeping tabs on her phone’s CDR. “Even as police officers rushed to Katra, Bhau was tipped off of their movement and he asked Dhankar to quickly leave. She left the hostel on the evening of June 20,” said the officer.
Police are trying to ascertain her current location.