Operating from Thailand under the name ‘Tiger’, gangster Kala Rana kept committing crimes such as extortion through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls. Police have found that his associates in India and Canada procured numbers from fake IDs and shared OTPs of WhatsApp, Signal and Wickr apps with him, through which he made calls to people in India. Police said Rana is involved in at least 30 cases of murder, attempt to murder, extortion and criminal intimidation across Haryana, and had also planned the escape of Kuldeep alias Fajja from police custody at GTB Hospital last year. He was arrested on landing at Delhi’s IGI airport. During questioning, police have also found that he was in touch with 27-year-old junior wrestler Sagar Dhankar, who was allegedly beaten to death by two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar at Chhatrasal Stadium last year. Explaining Rana’s modus-operandi, an officer said he was inspired by Dawood Ibrahim and D-Company, and decided to operate from outside India. “Rana told police that they used code names while communicating. He was called ‘Tiger’, and facilitated a communication hub for all gang members, Kala Jathedi was ‘Alpha’, who decided targets to be pursued, and Goldy Brar was ‘Doctor’, who manages finances and logistics,” an officer said. “In several cases, we recovered his voice messages, demanding and threatening businessmen. Rana connected calls of gang members with Jathedi or Goldy Brar by switching on loudspeaker,” the officer added. While in the jail, he had become close friends with Sampat Nehra, a close associate of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. “In 2017, he along with Nehra and others had opened fire on Rajender alias Raja, brother of ex-MLA Dilbag Singh, after which Rana was declared a proclaimed offender by a court in 2019. The same year, he left India using a fake passport as he feared that he would be convicted in the case. Later, a case was lodged in Fatehabad in connection with this, and in August 2021, a red-corner notice and a look-out-circular were issued against him,” a senior police officer said.
