Black Spider Group’s kingpin (Milan Lama) arrested in Delhi

Police in Indian capital New Delhi arrested Sandeep Pathak alias Milan Lama, the alleged kingpin of Black Spider Group, a dreaded extortion ring active in Nepal, on Wednesday.  According to Times of India daily, the police arrested him acting on a complaint from a trader who frequently used to travel between India and Nepal in March this year during which he received an extortion call on his mobile.

"The caller identified himself as Sandeep Pathak alias Milan Lama from International Black Spider Group and demanded Rs 1 crore as extortion money. He threatened to kill him if he did not provide the money," the daily quoted Deputy Commissioner of Delhi Police (Special Cell) Alok Kumar. Police apprehended Lama from Ranjit Nagar in west Delhi with the help of a technical surveillance team. Though the Interpol, Nepal police had been constantly requesting the Indian police to nab Lama, a ‘most wanted’ gangster. According to Delhi Police, Lama, 32, was addicted to gambling and was a regular visitor to casinos in Nepal. “To fund his gambling habits he took to crime. He formed a gang with his schoolmates and started this extortion racket," said Kumar.

Lama has five members in his gang that was formed in 2002. In 2000, he went to Singapore where he took admission in food and beverage course. He discontinued his studies and returned to Kathmandu where he opened an apparel store, but it ran into loss.  He formed the gang with his schoolmates Sudhir Thapa, Ganesh Karki, Akash, Ganesh Lama and Santosh. They started threatening affluent doctors and businessmen asking them to hefty amounts of extortion money.

It was in 2002 the gang’s extortion terror came into light when they demanded Rs 7 million from chairman of a medical college in Kathmandu. The gang received Rs 1 million from him. He told the police that his gang derived its name from the Hollywood movie ‘Spiderman’ and wanted to spread its activities all over the world.

Lama used to call from PCOs while his associates Sudhir, Ganesh Karki, Akash and Ganesh Lama collected the extortion money. Ganesh Karki and Akash were the sharp shooters of the gang who used to target people refusing to pay money, police said.  The gang had shot and critically injured at least four prominent figures in Kathmandu, including two medical doctors and a foreign employment agent, for not paying the amount asked for. (Source:::nepalnews.com Oct 19 07)