46-yr-old extortionist, wanted in several cases, held

A 46-year-old alleged extortionist, who was wanted in numerous cases, was arrested by the sleuths of special cell of the Delhi Police, police said Saturday.

The Delhi Police had declared a bounty of Rs 50,000 on him, they added.

Surender Singh Sodhi alias Shammi of Shakarpur was arrested on Friday. One pistol and five live cartridges were been recovered from his possession, Pramod Kushwah, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), said.

Shammi was infamous not only in Delhi but had several criminal cases registered against him in Mumbai and Haryana. He has been involved in criminal activities since school days, Kushwah said.

"At 21 he was declared a bad character. He even killed a relative of underworld Don Chota Rajan in Mumbai," he said.

Alok Khera, an aide of Rajan, was shot dead by Shammi in Mumbai in 2003, the DCP added.

Shammi was involved with many gangsters of UP, Delhi and Haryana, who were killed by sleuths of Delhi in encounters. His associate Shriprakash Shukla was shot dead in 1998 in an encounter in a joint operation by the Delhi Police and UP Police, while another associate Bunty Gujjar was killed by special cell in 2000, the DCP said.

He was wanted in over a dozen cases in Delhi, Haryana and Mumbai. In September last year, he along with his nephew Veer Singh also started running a gang which was involved in crimes like extortion, land grabbing, the officer said.