How armed robbery probe in Delhi ended in encounter killing

NEW DELHI: Amir Khan and Rajman, the two men killed in an encounter with the cops in the early hours of Thursday at Khajuri Khas, were both criminals who had no compunction about using firearms to press their demands. Khan was a travel agent and driver, but his meagre salary did not give him the life he yearned for. He even began purchasing motorcycles at low prices and selling them on OLX at inflated rates
Even as a medical board has been constituted to conduct the post-mortem of the duo, the story of how their end came about began with Begumpur police station investigating an armed robbery case. When scanning CCTV footage, they stumbled upon Khan and Rajman in a clip and began trailing them, finally locating them to Shri Ram Colony in Khajuri Khas on Thursday.
Constable Kalil Tomar who sustained a bullet wound in his leg during the gunfight said, “We coaxed the two men to surrender, but they insisted they wouldn’t. At no point did we expect them to have so many live rounds. Eventually, we asked a resident to provide us a hammer to break open the door of the room where they were hiding. The moment we used the hammer, the duo opened fire. My colleague, constable Sachin Khokar, suffered a fracture in his leg bone. We again persuaded the two men to give up, but they said they had 100 rounds and would continue firing, even kill themselves. We also retaliated. I don’t know when the bullet hit my leg. I only woke up on Friday morning.”
For the families residing in the building, the cops knocking on their doors and urgently directing them to rush downstairs was a shock. As a second-floor resident said, “We didn’t know what was happening. I just gathered my children and ran down. Then we stood and watched what ensued. The accused pair had only recently shifted here and were very aloof.”
Investigating officers said that Khan’s father was an ice cream seller. “Khan was doing part time jobs, but to earn more, he and some friends began purchasing motorbikes at lower prices and sold them, mostly on OLX, at high rates. They were inspired to deceit after seeing some episodes of TV series Crime Patrol and Savdhaan India and on YouTube,” claimed one officer.
A few months ago, Khan went to Anand Vihar bus stand to purchase a bike from a seller on OLX and fled with the two-wheeler. He sold it on OLX using a fake registration plate and forged documents to a customer in Pilibhit. He followed this up with similar acts. The fake numbers he used belonged to bikes of the same model and he also used the names in the original registration. In case a customer enquired, they found the Transport Authority details matched.