4-yr international chase ends as wanted gangsters Himanshu Bhau & Neeraj held in Las Vegas

Himanshu and Neeraj’s detention comes months after US, Canadian & European agencies launched Operation Hard Ball, which led to the charging of several gangsters, including Lawrence Bishnoi.

Himanshu alias Bhau (L) and Neeraj alias Neeraj Faridpur have been taken into custody by US immigration authorities. | By special arrangement

New Delhi: Two Indian gangsters with over 100 cases against them—ranging from extortion to murder and attempts to murder in Delhi-NCR—were Friday detained by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Himanshu alias Bhau and Neeraj alias Neeraj Faridpur were taken into custody in Las Vegas on the basis of an Interpol Red Corner Notice issued last year. The duo, who are from Haryana and are believed to have fled to the US four years ago on fake passports, now face deportation. 

The Haryana Special Task Force (STF), which was tracking the duo, worked in tandem with Indian central agencies and US law enforcement agencies to get them arrested and provided real-time inputs on their movement and location, sources privy to the development said.

“Both were detained in Las Vegas yesterday on inputs we shared with US law enforcement agencies through central agencies,” an officer of the special task force said Saturday. “Both of them were found to be working together since 2024 after fleeing on passports acquired fraudulently in others’ names,” the officer added.

Himanshu and Neeraj’s detention comes at a time when American law-enforcement agencies have stepped up a crackdown on foreign criminals and organised crime syndicates operating from US soil. In July this year, US agencies, along with their counterparts in Canada and Europe, launched Operation Hard Ball, which led to the arrest of two dozen criminals and the charging of several key gangsters, including Lawrence Bishnoi and his aides Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and Goldy Brar.

Over 100 cases

According to police files, Bhau is a notorious criminal known for making extortion calls and firing on businessmen in the national capital region. He faces a total of 61 cases in Haryana, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh. A native of Haryana’s Rohtak district, Bhau gained notoriety after fleeing a Juvenile Observation Home in Hisar in 2020. STF officers say he fled the country around four years ago using a passport in the name of one Kunal Singh from UP’s Moradabad. The Haryana STF moved to have his passport revoked in June 2024, and obtained a look-out circular against him. 

Similarly, Neeraj, who faces around 40 cases, fled India using a passport fraudulently obtained in the name of one Kapil Sharma, purportedly a resident of Haryana’s Gurugram district, officers said. His passport was revoked in August 2024.

Neeraj, police dossiers say, committed his first crime in 2015, but earned notoriety in 2019 when he was implicated in the conspiracy behind the killing of a Congress leader named Vikas Chaudhary in Faridabad.

(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)