NEW DELHI: The clock had struck three in the morning. Hoping to intercept a crucial call, inspector Vinod Badola, who was a part of the team trailing gangster Hashim Baba, had been wearing headphones all night.
Sleep seemed to overpower him, but a beep in his headphones at 3.15am made him jerk upright. The recipient of the call was Hashim’s wife, Zoya, who was using a secret number. On the other side was an acquaintance of the gangster. “Bhai aayenge aapse milne abhi. Message karwaya hai (Boss has sent a message that he’s coming to meet you right now),” said the person.
The call was enough to wake the entire New Delhi range of Special Cell. After waiting for months, they had finally got a specific lead. Zoya’s secret number had been obtained through extensive on-ground intelligence after infiltrating Hashim’s core group.
The pressure to nab Hashim was immense. On October 1, Delhi Police commissioner SN Shrivastava had given the team two weeks to deliver the gangster. Over the next 15 minutes, ACPs Lalit Mohan Negi and Hriday Bhushan readied a team comprising Badola, sub-inspector Sunder Gautam and others.
The dozen-strong team left for northeast Delhi’s Shahdara in five cars and four bikes carrying Glocks and MP5 submachine guns. Given Hashim’s track record of being a trigger-happy criminal, police were certain that a gunfight would ensue in the densely populated locality of Subhash Park.
Before the cops could take position, Hashim had gone inside a house to meet his wife. The team surrounded it, but maintained a safe distance. Two spotters climbed a two-storey building and took position, while the others spread out in the area. One way was to approach the building and confine him inside, but this could have led to a hostage situation. The two ACPs then decided to wait and watch.
After around two hours, Hashim stepped outside and was asked to surrender, but he whipped out a pistol and opened fire. A policeman had a narrow escape and was saved due to his bulletproof vest. In retaliatory firing, Hashim was shot at and overpowered and then taken to a hospital.
Subsequently, senior officers were informed about the arrest. There were still four days left to the two-week deadline given by the commissioner.