Haryana’s most wanted gangster Mainpal Badli who fled on parole & opened disco in Cambodia deported

GURGAON: Sentenced to life terms in three murder cases, Haryana’s most wanted gangster who jumped parole and started a new life as owner of a discotheque in Cambodia was landed in jail again after seven years. The dramatic escape story ended tamely this Tuesday when Mainpal Badli was escorted to the custody of the special task force (STF) after being deported to India from Siem Reap.In all, there are 22 cases in Haryana against Badli, alias ‘Dheela’, which include murder, attempt to murder, dacoity and criminal intimidation.

Lodged in Hisar Central Jail at the time, Badli was granted six weeks’ parole in July 2018. He never turned himself in and managed to flee to Bangkok from Kolkata on July 7, 2019, on a fake passport and carrying Rs 1.1 crore in cash.“Badli fraudulently acquired an Indian passport (no. T3218793) in the name of Sonu Kumar, son of Ranvir Singh, resident of H. No. 898, Sector-18, Sarhol village, Gurgaon,” IGP (STF) Satheesh Balan said on Wednesday.Investigators found that there was no one by the name Sonu Kumar and the Gurgaon address on the passport was fake. After reaching Bangkok, Badli went to Mauritius and Indonesia, but finally settled in Siem Reap as ‘Sonu Kumar’.

There, he became father to three children, born out of a live-in relationship.“He stayed away from criminal activities there and opened adisco, which he operated with his partner’s help. The woman was unaware of his criminal past and original identity till he was detained,” the IGP said.In Cambodia, Badli managed to learn the local language and had applied for citizenship too, police said.Badli was a tractor mechanic in Jhajjar till his foray into the world of crime in 2007.

He allegedly killed an uncle over a dispute, and was charged for two more murders the same year.In 2010, he was put behind bars and was eventually convicted and awarded life imprisonment in all three murder cases. The gangster was lodged in Bhondsi district jail in Gurgaon in 2014, when he allegedly killed a rival. Balan told TOI that Haryana Police picked up intelligence that the gangster, a proclaimed offender, was living lavishly in Cambodia.“Interpol and other concerned agencies were used to then share information with Cambodian law enforcement about the presence of the fugitive in Siem Reap. The STF team led by SP Waseem Akram established Badli’s identity, and he was detained there by local agencies around 45 days ago,” the IGP said.Earlier this week, the STF accompanied by DSP Madan Singh and SI Sandeep Kumar took custody of Badli in Phnom Penh and brought him back to India, Balan said.

Now in STF’s custody, the gangster will face trial in the pending cases and serve time for the sentences.Badli’s return to India makes it the eighth deportation of a gangster by Haryana STF in two years. Before him, gangster Kunal Joon was reported from Kazakhstan in April, Joginder Gyong from the Philippines in Feb, and Kala Khairampuriya from Thailand last year.