The Delhi Police Monday said it has arrested two associates of one of Delhi’s most notorious gangsters, Ashok Pradhan.

Police said the arrested men had procured firearms and a motorcycle, which they had robbed from a man at gunpoint in Delhi’s Najafgarh last week, to execute two killings.

Police said the two were arrested Sunday from near Najafgarh drain after a crime branch team received information that the duo had stolen a motorcycle and had procured weapons to commit two murders. Police identified the two men as Naveen Gill, 21, who hailed from Haryana’s Jhajjar, and Rahul Dagar, 20, a resident of Jafarpur Kalan in Delhi.

Two countrymade pistols, four cartridges and the stolen TVS Apache motorcycle were recovered from their possession.

Deputy commissioner of police (crime) G Ram Gopal Naik said the arrested men had already made a failed attempt to kill one of the two targets at his music shop in Haryana’s Bahadurgarh last Monday. “The duo allegedly fired two bullets at the man, but they missed,” Naik said.

DCP Naik said Gill planned the attack to take revenge of his cousin’s murder, who was shot dead five or six years ago, by a family in Jhajjar. The man who survived Gill’s attack last week if from that family.

“Gill was a teenager at that time but he developed a grudge against the family and wanted to take revenge. He came in contact with one Mohit, a close aide of Pradhan, and found a way to fulfil his revenge,” the DCP said.

Police said Gill was trained in the use of firearms by Pradhan’s gang members. During the training, Gill came in contact with Dagar, who had joined Pradhan’s gang. Dagar, too, was looking to settle scores with a rival in his village.

“As both had similar objectives, they decided to help each other,” a police officer, who interrogated the two men, said.

First Published: Apr 23, 2019 11:03 IST