Assailants open fire in northeast Delhi, one killed, police rule out gang war

Panic gripped Subhash Mohalla in northeast Delhi’s Bhajanpura on Friday night after a group of four-five men opened fire and allegedly killed a 26-year-old man in what is suspected to be the fallout of a longstanding rivalry between two gangs.

More than half a dozen bullets were fired, three of which hit the man in his chest, killing him on the spot.

The two gangs in question, Chhenu Pehalwan and Abdul Nasir, have claimed almost 20 lives in the last one decade.

Police, however, have ruled out that the deceased, Nazim Hussain, was killed in a gangwar, even as there were information that he was associated with Nasir gang.

Pictures in which Hussain is seen standing with Nasir and holding a double-barrel gun started circulating on social media groups immediately after his murder. Police said the photographs were clicked during Nasir’s wedding and claimed that many other guests had also got similar pictures clicked with Nasir.

“Hussain was not killed in a gangwar. As of now we have not found his association with Nasir or Chhenu gang. Prime facie, it appears to be a case of personal enmity. We have got certain clues about the attackers. Efforts are on to identify and nab the suspects. A case of murder has been registered at the Bhajanpura police station,” Ved Prakash Surya, deputy commissioner of police (northeast), said.

Hussain lived with his family members in Subhash Mohalla and was unemployed. He was previously booked in a few cases of assault and altercation.

On Friday night, Hussain had gone to a restaurant in Bhajanpura for dinner with his friends. Around 10pm, when he was walking back home alone the bike-borne assailants cornered him some 200-300 metres away from his house and opened fire at him.

The firing triggered panic among locals, many of who locked themselves inside their home. After the attacked fled on their bikes, some locals reached the crime scene and found Hussain bleeding. A few of them rushed to Hussain’s home and informed his family members about it. Hussain was admitted to Guru Teg Bahadur hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Police said their initial probe has revealed that Hussain had an altercation with a local criminal, who was arrested on his complaint and sent to jail. The man had recently come out of jail.

“We are probing if the man is involved in Hussain’s killing. The case is being probed from other possible angles as well,” the officer said.

This is the second major firing incident in northeast Delhi between Thursday night and Friday night. Two bike-borne assailants fired bullets at a mobile phone store in Nand Nagri in an extortion bid on Thursday night. Nobody was injured in the firing. The police later caught two members of jailed gangster of western Uttar Pradesh, Anil Dujana, for the crime.

First Published: Sep 14, 2019 23:06 IST