Four arrested in Bara Hindu Rao area firing incident

New Delhi, July 11

Four men have been arrested in connection with a firing incident in the Bara Hindu Rao area here, which left two people dead, police said on Sunday.

Rahul alias Charlie (23), Himanshu (21), both residents of Nand Nagri, Mehtab (52), a resident of Farsh Khana, and Feroz have been apprehended, they said.

The incident had taken place on Thursday in north Delhi’s Filmistan Road.

Police said they were hired allegedly by a local builder to threaten a businessman, Mohd Naeem Ahmed, and his nephew Munib over a property-related matter.

On Thursday, three of the four men stopped the businessman’s car and started quarreling with him and Munib, they said. 

However, some people gathered and overpowered two of them. But after a while they managed to escape, police said.

Later, the men returned and opened fire, targeting Ahmed and Munib. Unfortunately, two passersby came in their line of fire and were killed, police said, adding that one of the deceased had been identified as Sanjay Rajput (30) while the identity of the other is being ascertained.

They said Feroz is one of the conspirators of the crime and was present at the incident site.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Anto Alphonse said, “Five special teams of the north district were constituted to work on the case along with teams of the northeast district, Special Cell, and Crime Branch. The analysis of CCTV footage helped the teams in identifying four of the assailants.”                

Police said they are also probing if the conspiracy to eliminate Ahmed and his nephew was hatched in Tihar jail with the help a local criminal lodged there.

During the initial investigation, it was learnt that the several builders in the Sadar Bazar and Bara Hindu Rao areas were rivals of the complainant, Ahmed, and his nephew Munib, police said.

Munib had managed to get a stay order on the construction of a building at Ahata Kidara, and it was later demolished. A builder was upset with this development and he conspired with his partners to settle scores, they said.

Mehtab was one of the builder’s partner’s relatives, they said.

“Technical surveillance has been mounted and sources have been deployed to nab the builder and his associates,” Alphonse said.

Acting on a tip-off, Rahul was apprehended from the Civil Lines area and a sophisticated pistol with three cartridges was seized, the officer said.

Simultaneously, through manual and technical intelligence, another team apprehended Himanshu in Chandigarh, and at his instance, one-country made gun with two live cartridges was seized, Alphonse said.

On Feroz, another senior police officer said, “He was detained and was being questioned about his role”. 

“We found that he helped the main accused by hiring the assailants. On the day of the incident, he was there at Bara Hindu Rao but at a distance. He didn’t fire at anyone,” he said.                 

During interrogation, Rahul and Himanshu disclosed that on July 8, they were approached by one of their friends who told them to accompany him to the Bara Hindu Rao area for some work, Alphonse said.

The accused then hired an auto and reached the railway track near Kishanganj station where they met a man who came in a car with his associates and gave them the targets, the DCP said.

“As part of the plan, Rahul was sent to a nearby clinic to check if Munib was there and asked to stop his car when he sees him leaving. Initially, when Rahul stopped the car, he was surrounded by many people who started beating him. So, his associates came to rescue him and subsequently they used firearms as per the plan to target Munib and Naeem but they escaped unhurt,” he said.                          

Mehtab who has also been arrested disclosed to police during interrogation that he was asked by one of his relatives to approach Munib and Ahmed to sort out the property dispute, Alphonse said.

But when Munib did not agree, he hatched a conspiracy with the builder and his relative to finish them, the DCP said. — PTI