Three persons were arrested on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in two cases of murder, three attempt to murder and four robberies, all reported between April and June.

Among those arrested were LLB dropout and “kingpin” of the gang 23-year-old Lakshay Parashar who previously worked at the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), 22-year-old Nitin Yadav and 19-year-old Jatin, said police.

On May 31, the three had allegedly shot at a software engineer, while trying to steal his car in Narela industrial area and left him to die on the roadside. The same evening, the trio allegedly shot dead a 42-year-old man working at a welding workshop in Bawana over personal enmity.

Police said the three men wanted to form their own gang to extort people in the areas of outer Delhi and parts of Haryana.

Deputy commissioner of police (outer north) Gaurav Sharma said that in past two months a series of incidents of robberies, murders, carjacking and attempt to murders were reported from the areas of outer Delhi and Haryana.

“On Tuesday, our team received information that three men involved in the killing a welder in Bawana and also shot at the software engineer will come near Auchandi border area. On this, we laid a trap near Dariyapur police post,” Sharma said.

As soon as the three were spotted approaching on a motorcycle, police asked them to stop. “They attempted to flee but they met police barricades and were overpowered. We recovered three automatic and six country-made pistols along with 19 live cartridges from them,” the DCP said.

Sharma said, when questioned, the three men disclosed their involvement in at least nine cases, including two murders. “Apart from the Bawana murder and a murder reported from Rohtak, both last month, we suspect Lakshay and his associate’s involvement in another murder reported from Bawana about two months ago,” he said.

A police officer who investigated the cases but is not authorised to speak to the media, said, “They were desperate to make money and extorted people. They used stolen and robbed cars to commit other crimes and then sold the vehicle in grey market outside Delhi. In order to evade police, they often changed locations and switched states between Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.”

First Published: Jun 13, 2019 05:23 IST