Indian tagged as KFR gang’s No. 2 man falls

BALANGA CITY – A 46-year-old Indian national tagged as the No. 2 man and “tipster” of a kidnap-for-ransom (KFR) syndicate preying on Indian traders in Central Luzon and Metro Manila was arrested last Monday afternoon while about to leave for Singapore via Cebu.

The suspect, Sukhdev Singh Banghu, who was reportedly engaged in “5-6” money lending business in public markets in the cities of Caloocan and Manila, was collared by a police team led by Inspector Sonia Alvarez by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by Judge Manuel Tan of the Bataan Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 2.

Police records showed that Banghu had long been wanted for the ransom kidnappings of the so-called 9M Gang” composed of Indian nationals and their Filipino cohorts that victimized Indian businessmen in Central Luzon and Metro Manila.

Banghu’s group had abducted some 20 Indian nationals with ransoms ranging from P 1.5 million to P 9 million.

Interviewed by The STAR at Camp Tolentino, the provincial police headquarters here, Banghu denied being part of the KFR syndicate, saying that he has been a “legitimate businessman” in his seven years in the country.

Banghu, who is married to a Filipina, is facing charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention before the Balanga RTC.

He, together with four compatriots, is detained at the provincial jail here.

Last Feb. 17, Sikh religious leader Gurdashan Singh, alias Darshan Singh, tagged as the mastermind of the 9M Gang, was arrested by Bataan policemen in Barangay Manresa, Quezon City. – With Ric Sapnu