Drinking binge lands 3 Delhi accused in ‘net’

PANAJI: Two youths from New Delhi and their friend from Haryana, who were absconding from the national capital since January 11 after shooting at a police man, were arrested in Calangute in North Goa's beach belt, on Wednesday. A drinking binge that the trio indulged in helped Goa police trace the location of the accused.
South West district Delhi police traced an ATM swipe by the accused on Tuesday night to Calangute and alerted Calangute police, who nabbed one of the accused when he returned to a wine store to purchase a second lot of liquor. Less than an hour earlier, the trio had purchased liquor worth over Rs 7,000 at the store.

"On January 11, the three accused, Vipin Dagar, 24, and Praveen Dagar, 23, both from New Delhi, and Ajay Kumar Ahlawat, 22, from Haryana, were driving in Delhi in a Maruti Swift. The vehicle was stopped by the police during nakabandi, but as the three were carrying illegal weapons in their car, they dashed into the constable's vehicle and also shot at the police personnel on duty. An offence was registered against the trio, including attempt to murder," said North Goa superintendent of police (SP) Chandan Chowdhary.

The accused abandoned their vehicle along with the weapons and flew to Goa within hours of committing the crime, police sources said. In Goa, they headed straight to Calangute, where they joined four of their friends, who were already camping in the state. The group then rented premises and went on a drinking binge, police sources added.

"Using photos of the accused shared by Delhi police and their debit card details, we began scanning for card usage. It was traced to a wine store. I waited at the store in civil attire for nearly an hour. The accused had already bought alcohol worth Rs 7,000. But, I still took a chance. And one of them did return to buy more. We nabbed him at around 11pm and he led us to the others, who were having dinner at a eatery nearby," Calangute police inspector Jivba Dalvi said.

Along with the three accused, their four friends were also taken into police custody. Delhi police are on its way to Goa and will decide on whether to arrest the four friends and take them back to Delhi, too.

The rented premises where they were staying have been sealed for investigation, though it has been found that the accused provided genuine identity proof during check-in.

"The accused thought that Goa is a safe haven for them. But it is not so. Our police are very alert. I congratulate the Calangute PI for arresting the trio within hours of receiving the information. As the accused initially tried to flee, the PI had to make use of a weapon to nab them," said Chowdhary.