A 38-year-old sharpshooter of Neeraj Bawana gang was arrested after a shoot-out in the early hours of Thursday. The accused sustained a bullet injury during the encounter, the police said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev kumar Yadav said that the accused has been identified as Raj Kumar alias Bhamba, a resident of Bawana, who had a reward of ₹1 lakh declared on his arrest. The accused was also wanted in six cases, including four murders, and was declared a proclaimed offender.
The police said they received a tip-off that Raj Kumar would be coming to Prahaladpur Road from Rohini side around 5a.m. to meet an associate. Following this, a trap was laid.
“At 5.05 a.m., a motorcycle was spotted and was asked to stop. But the rider tried to speed away. The police team chased him after which he left the bike and started running on foot,” Mr. Yadav said.
The police claimed that Raj Kumar was asked to surrender, but he started firing at the police party. “Police team also retaliated in the line of self-defense and to deter the criminal. One bullet hit the right leg of the accused due to which he was grounded and was apprehended by the police team,” the DCP said adding that a semi-automatic pistol was recovered from his possession.
Couldn’t return money
During interrogation, he allegedly told the police that he had borrowed money from Neeraj Bawana’s brother Pankaj and as he couldn’t return it, he started working for them and committed murders and extortion.
The police said that Raj Kumar was involved in the murder of members of their rival Nitu Dabodia gang, including the murder of Pradeep alias Bhola in 2014, Rajesh Durmut and Vinod alias Bablu in 2017. He was also involved in the murder of Amit in 2018 due to Amit’s proximity with Neeraj Bawana’s cousin sister.