Abu Salem's aide, wanted in several cases, arrested from east Delhi

A suspected aide of gangster Abu Salem wanted in several cases, including murder, attempt to murder and extortion, has been arrested from east Delhi, police said on Friday. Jaan Usman Khan alias Reenu, who is in his 30s and has a long list of arrests in Delhi and Mumbai, was nabbed last night from an area near Sanjay Jheel.

Khan, who allegedly shot at his wife in Janakpuri on June 3, had previously been arrested by Mumbai Police on charges of firing at actress Raveena Tandon’s husband Anil Thadani. Omvir Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) confirmed Khan’s arrest and said his interrogation was under way.

He is believed to be an aide of gangster Abu Salem, who is currently lodged in Taloja Central Jail in Raigad and was today found guilty by a TADA court of transporting weapons from Gujarat to Mumbai ahead of the 1993 serial blasts.Tracing Khan’s links with the Salem gang, a police official said he had gone to Mumbai in 1996 where he met Waseem, a sharpshooter of the gang accused of killing  T-Series Cassette owner and film producer Gulshan Kumar. Waseem introduced Khan to Salem and he joined his gang, police said.

Salem later introduced him to Aftab Bhatki, who was running a fake Indian currency notes (FICN) racket from Dubai and Karachi. Khan joined the gang and began circulating FICN in India through Nepal and Bangladesh routes, but was arrested in Delhi in an FICN case in 2000.

After being released, he moved to Mumbai and started extorting money from people in Bollywood on Salem’s directions. But he was arrested for an extortion bid on Thadani. Salem was later arrested in this case in 2006.

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After his release from Mumbai jail, Khan came to Delhi and in 2010 was again arrested from Kalyanpuri under the Arms Act for carrying illicit arms. He was also arrested in a case of murder of a businessman in Vikaspuri. He along with Vinod Pandit had allegedly fired at financier Hemant Birje.

After getting bail in the cases, he never appeared in the courts to face trial and was declared a proclaimed offender in three cases.

Khan had earlier also fired at singer Daler Mehndi and film producer Rakesh Roshan on Salem’s directions for extorting protection money, police said.

Earlier this month, Delhi Police’s Special Cell arrested an aide of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim’s confidant Chhota Shakeel, who was allegedly planning to kill Pakistan-born Canadian writer Tarek Fatah and had already received Rs 1.5 lakh for it.