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The Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Wednesday said that they arrested and brought back Salim Sheikh alias Salim Pistol, a “wanted” illegal arms supplier to the Capital, after his arrest from the Indo-Nepal border, officials said.According to the police, Sheikh was detained on Saturday from the India-Nepal border by a team of Special Cell officials and the Kathmandu police.
“Salim was detained on Saturday and after interrogation he was arrested and brought back to India on Monday,” said the police. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Amit Kaushik confirmed the development and told The Hindu that he was in police custody. “The team has brought Salim Sheikh to Delhi and is in police custody being interrogated,” said the officer.
According to officials, the Sheikh was allegedly the first illegal arms supplier to supply Zigana pistols to gangsters in India. “He has been supplying arms to gangsters like Lawrence Bishnoi and Hashim Baba from abroad,” said a senior police officer.
The officer also alleged that Sheikh is also allegedly associated with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and with Dawood Ibrahim and his D-Company. Sheikh’s name has been allegedly associated with top high profile murders, the first being Sidhu Moosewala’s murder where he allegedly mentored one of the accused. Further, the officer also added that Sheikh’s name also cropped up during the investigation of NCP leader Baba Siddique’s murder, for allegedly supplying arms to the accused.
According to the police, Sheikh (52) hailed from Delhi’s Seelampur, was last arrested in 2018 in an arms supply case. “He fled abroad after getting bail and since then has been evading arrest,” said the police.
The police told The Hindu that the accused built a base in Nepal after evading arrest by the police in India and had been visiting the neighbouring country frequently. It is after a tip off where it was learnt that the accused would be meeting an associate in Kathmandu, that the team detained him on Saturday along with Kathmandu police.
The accused first started was named in several FIRs for car thefts, followed by armed robberies and then arms supply. According to the police, Sheikh dropped out of school after 8th class due to poverty and started working as a driver. “He first started auto lifting with his friend Mukesh Gupta alias Kaka, and later committed armed robberies and supplying arms to gangsters in India from abroad,” said the officer. At present there are 9 FIRs against him under arms act, robbery, extortion, intimidation, from 1992 onwards; when he was booked under section 433 IPC for destroying property.
The police at present Sheikh is being interrogated by the police for his involvement in several high profile cases, the officer said.
Published – August 14, 2025 02:41 am IST
