Haryana STF officials said that Himanshu and Neeraj were together when they were arrested in a joint operation carried out in Las Vegas by ICE and the FBI.
The Haryana police special task force (STF) got the most-wanted gangsters Himanshu Bhau and Neeraj Faridpuria arrested from a hideout in Las Vegas, USA, on Thursday night (India time) by tipping off the American law enforcement agencies.
The arrests came after a one-and-a-half-month-long operation.
STF officials said that the duo were together when they were arrested in a joint operation carried out there by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
“Neeraj was wanted in at least 63 criminal cases. Himanshu also had at least 41 cases registered against him. These cases were registered in Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab and other states,” a senior STF officer said without preferring to be named.
The officer added that the majority of these cases were registered against the duo while they were in the USA.
Fled India in 2022
Neeraj had fled to the USA in 2019, while Bhau fled in 2022, using passports issued on the basis of forged documents, with which they had changed their identities. STF officials said that INTERPOL issued Red Corner Notices against them a few years ago.
“Both were operating their gangs in India mainly to carry out extortion from traders, businessmen, developers and other such entities,” he said.
STF officials said that Haryana police had announced a reward of ₹10 lakh on each of them for their arrest. Police in other states had also announced rewards on them, they said.
The arrest
Officials said that over the last one and a half months, they had been continuously gathering various types of technical data to locate the duo’s hiding place in the USA. They said they finally traced both to be living in Las Vegas, after which details were shared by ICE and the FBI via various channels of the central government, which led to their arrest.
STF said that the process to have them extradited to India has begun and may take time, but the legal procedures are already in place.
