NEW DELHI: The Special Cell team of the Northern Range apprehended one sharpshooter, Bijender alias Golu (27) of a criminal gang. Bijendra was involved in a murder case involving a person named Aman, who was shot at a Burger King restaurant in broad daylight in the Rajouri Garden, New Delhi on June 18. The incident was caught on CCTV camera and even went viral on social media.
According to the Additional Commissioner of Police, P.S. Khushwah Bijender, a resident of Ritoli village in Haryana was responsible for transporting the shooters to and fro from the metro station to the restaurant, and he arranged weapons for them. He further added that the accused was providing external support by keeping the area secure so that shooters could execute the killing.
Talking about the arrest, the police said three culprits in the murder have been identified including Bijedra. Others are Ashish and Vikas. All three are from Haryana.
The Special Cell team has been chasing them for the last ten days. They raided a number of their suspected hideouts in Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, and Punjab.
On some occasions, the culprits narrowly escaped being nabbed by the team. Finally, the efforts paid off when an informant disclosed the whereabouts of Bijender, and he was arrested after a brief resistance from the Rohini area in Delhi.
The police have recovered one sophisticated pistol, eight live cartridges, and one motorcycle from his possession.
During the interrogation, the accused revealed that the murder of Aman was executed in a pre-planned manner under the direction of Himanshu Bhau, fugitive Spain-based gangster who wanted to avenge the murder of a relative of jailed gangster Neeraj Bawana. Bijendra further got instructions from a gang member named Sahil.
As per plan, Bijendra reached Rajouri Garden metro station and picked up the two shooters, Vikas and Ashish, and all three rode to the restaurant.
While he stayed outside as backup with weapons, the two shooters went inside the fast food outlet and shot the target. Later, he rode them to the metro station.
As per Delhi Police, Bijender was wanted in two Arms Act cases and had five other FIRs registered against him in Haryana.
According to the police, the lady identified as Anu, a resident of Haryana, was desperate to become a lady gangster and came into contact through a social media app with these gangsters. Accordingly, they planned the murder, and Anu honey-trapped the victim. She was sitting with Joon when Vikas and Ashish fired between 20 and 30 rounds at him. Since then, Anu has been on the run. She was last spotted at Jammu and Kashmir’s Katra railway station. She boarded a Katra-bound train on Thursday morning. She also accessed the Wi-Fi service of the accommodation where she was staying in Katra at around 9.30 AM on Thursday, sources added.
Police are on the lookout for Vikas, Ashish and Anu.
The murder is believed to be part of an ongoing gang conflict involving jailed gangsters Neeraj Bawana and Ashok Pradhan. Himanshu Bhau, a close associate of Bawana, claimed responsibility for the shooting in a social media post, stating it was retaliation for the October 2020 killing of Bawana’s cousin, Shakti Singh. Police believe Aman provided information about Singh’s location to Pradhan.
Notably, Special Cell on June 22 last week arrested 16 suspected criminals in separate operations.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Amit Kaushik said during interrogation it was found that the gang leaders who have settled abroad or were incarcerated in different jails, recruited juveniles and youngsters without prior criminal records or were involved in minor cases to avoid detection.
“Social media and popular songs glamorising the gangster life are used to attract these youngsters to join the gangs, he said. The gangsters lure these youngsters for shooting at and even killing people and later dump them and move on to others,” the senior officer added.