Arms supplier Salim Pistol arrested from Indo-Nepal border

He has been sent to police custody for 10 days, police said.

Sources said Salim has been supplying arms to India’s top criminals, including jailed gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Hashim Baba. He has also been allegedly associated with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and Mumbai don Dawood Ibrahim and his D-Company.

Hailing from Delhi’s Seelampur, Salim (52), was last arrested in 2018 in an arms supply case. Police said he fled to Pakistan after getting bail. “His name cropped up after the murders of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala and NCP leader Baba Siddique for allegedly supplying weapons to the shooters,” said an officer, adding that he was operating from abroad and had established a base in Nepal. It was during one such visit to the Delhi-Nepal border that he was apprehended by a Special Cell team.

Police said that Salim, who had dropped out of school after Class 8, used to work as a driver before entering the world of crime. According to police records, he was first booked for stealing vehicles in 2000 along with his associate, Mukesh Gupta alias Kaka. He was arrested and later released on bail. In 2011, he was booked in a Rs 20-lakh robbery case in Jafrabad and arrested in 2013. He later became involved in the supply of illegal firearms, said police.

Nestled inside Northeast Delhi’s Jaffrabad’s – the stomping ground for many of Delhi’s criminals – is house number 1034, home of Salim, accused of supplying the pistols to many of these people.

His residence at Gali 34, a three-floor building jostled among other houses, godowns and a couple of factories, has a 5-ft steel door decorated with golden engravings.

“Last I saw him? I think it was 2010 or 2011. I used to call him uncle… I didn’t know back then…,” says Mohammad Faizan, who has a carpet godown located opposite to Salim’s house.

Neighbours say one of Salim’s brothers, Naseem, owns a couple of shops in the local market. The shops, including a saloon and a tea cafe, are rented out to different people, they add. At the cafe, the tenant says, “We don’t know him (Naseem). We just pay our rent to him. We don’t even have his contact number.”

At the end of Gali 34 is a dry cleaning unit. Its owner Azad says he had occasionally spoken to Salim during festivals. “To be honest, he was a decent neighbour. Never had a quarrel… Normal man, with a normal family. But one of his brothers left the family home as police frequently visited their house.”

Salim has two sisters and five brothers, said police. He got married in 1992, and has a daughter and a son.