Kala Jathedi has been involved in cases of contract killings and extortions (File)
A banquet in Delhi is set to turn into a "fortress" for the wedding of gangster Sandeep alias Kala Jathedi with "history-sheeter" Anuradha Choudhary alias "Madam Minz" on March 12, sources said.
The banquet, Santosh Garden, in Dwarka's Sector-3, has been booked by Sandeep's lawyer for Rs 51,000. The wedding will witness the deployment of 250 policemen along with SWAT (Special Weapons and Techniques) commandoes with hi-tech weapons.
The security arrangement will include teams of the special cell, the crime branch, and Haryana's crime investigation agency, the sources said.
The Delhi Police has made a strategic plan to avert any incident keeping in mind Sandeep's notoriety and his previous record, the sources said.
Sandeep has earlier fled from the custody of the Haryana Police once and orchestrated an escape of his associate from the custody of the Delhi Police.
Once a wanted criminal with a bounty of Rs 7 lakh, Sandeep from Sonipat got a six-hour parole for his wedding from a Delhi court. He will marry Ms Choudhary, who also faces several criminal records.
Sandeep is presently lodged in Tihar jail.
A police officer said Sandeep had fled from the Haryana Police's custody while being escorted to a court in Faridabad in 2020. His gang had surrounded the police and opened fire, injuring a cop.
In 2021, he along with his associates orchestrated a shootout in Delhi's GTB Hospital and managed to free one Kuldeep Fajja from the custody of the Delhi Police, the officer said, adding that Fajja was later caught and killed in an encounter with the Delhi Police's special cell.
"We don't want to take any chances this time. Therefore, an adequate deployment of police force will be put in place, from Tihar to the wedding venue in Dwarka," a senior Delhi Police official said.
Santosh Garden is located about seven kilometers from Tihar jail.
According to the court's order, Sandeep has got parole from 10 am to 4 pm for his wedding. On the next day, March 13, he will be taken to his home in Sonipat for the couple's home-coming rituals.
The police have not ruled out the possibility of a gang war.
Officials said about 250 police police personnel will remain deployed in and around the venue. Some officers in civil clothes with weapons will keep a tight watch on the venue, they said.
The police said Sandeep will be escorted by a large number of Delhi Police personnel from the Third Battalion unit, which is entrusted with taking a prisoner in and out of jail.
Sandeep's family has shared a list of 150 guests with the local police, another officer said. The waiters and other workers at the wedding will all be given ID cards, he said.
Sandeep is a close associate of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and is facing over a dozen cases of robbery, murder, attempt to murder, and extortions in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and UP, Delhi Police records showed.
He has also been involved in cases of contract killings and extortions, another officer said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)