Gurgaon: Dreaded gangster Sombir alias Motta had fled abroad fearing for his life two years ago.A day after the special task force (STF) of Haryana arrested Sombir (39) following his deportation from the US, investigators revealed that he fled India on Jan 3, 2024 from Mumbai airport to Bangkok amid a long-running and bloody gang rivalry in Karor village of Rohtak’s Sampla area. Sombir’s brother and notorious gangster Anil Chhippi decided to send him abroad, fearing further attacks from Chaju gang members, an investigator said.After he entered the US in Sept 2024, he was detained by a patrolling unit and remained in a detention centre for 17 months before being deported following coordinated efforts by Haryana STF and central agencies.Sombir had fraudulently obtained a passport issued in the name of another Sombir, son of Ramniwas, a resident of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. According to police, Sombir was released on bail from a Haryana jail in 2022 and procured the forged passport in 2023.An FIR was registered on May 27, 2024 at IMT Rohtak police station under Section 420 (cheating) of IPC and relevant sections of the Passport Act. His passport was revoked on Aug 14, 2024 at the request of STF Haryana by the regional passport office, Ghaziabad.Sombir has alleged links with the Lawrence Bishnoi and Kala Jathedi gangs. He is involved in 26 criminal cases, including 10 murders, attempted murder, dacoity and extortion across Rohtak, Sonipat, Jhajjar, Delhi, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh. He was also involved in the 2014 murder of a Mainpal Badli gang member inside Bhondsi jail in Gurgaon.After reaching Thailand, he travelled to Dubai, where he stayed for around five months. With the help of Haryana-based associates in Dubai, he obtained a Spanish visa and moved to Spain before travelling to Nicaragua and eventually entered the US.STF SP Waseem Akram said a Red Corner Notice was issued in Feb 2024 after Sombir escaped using the fake passport. “We will soon nab Motta’s associates who helped him obtain a passport using forged documents and facilitated his travel to the US through the illegal route. We have identified the network. His details were shared with Interpol and other agencies,” he said.Police said the violent rivalry dates back to 2001 between the families of Chaju and Rame Chhippi in Karor village after a member of Chaju’s family allegedly harassed a woman from the Chhippi family. After she informed Rame about the incident, he, along with his associates, confronted members of the Chaju family and assaulted them. When Chaju, who belongs to the Jaat community, came to know about this, he, along with his son Shri Bhagwan, assaulted Rame. To avenge the insult, Rame and his associates killed Silkram, brother of Shri Bhagwan, triggering a cycle of retaliatory killings. In 2002, Shri Bhagwan’s gang members killed Rame and his brother.Following the killings, Rame’s wife Roshni Devi fled the village with her two sons — Anil Chhippi and Sombir — who were then aged around 12 and 11.Anil later became a bus conductor in Delhi but stabbed a person in 2009 and was lodged in Tihar jail. During his incarceration, he met gangsters Kala Jathedi and Naresh Sethi and narrated the family’s ordeal and the origins of the rivalry. Jathedi vowed to support Chhippi, after which the cycle of violence escalated further with a series of killings involving members and relatives of the rival groups.In 2023, a grandson of Chaju allegedly killed an associate of Anil Chhippi.SP Akram said Sombir’s deportation marks the 10th major deportation by STF Haryana since 2025 and the third from the United States. Earlier, Lakhwinder Lakha of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang was deported on Oct 25, 2025, and Aman Bhainswal on Jan 7, 2026. Gangster Anmol Bishnoi was also deported from the US on Nov 19, 2025, by national agencies.“The successful deportation of Sombir alias Motta underscores STF Haryana’s coordinated efforts with national and international agencies to track, apprehend and repatriate fugitives involved in organised and violent crimes,” Akram said.
