Jailed gangster’s contract killer held after shootout
CAUGHT Tanvir survived two bullets as he was wearing a ballistic vest; aide managed to flee
NEW DELHI: A 24-year-old alleged contract killer of the Chennu Pehalwan gang was arrested after a dramatic chase by Delhi Police and exchange of fire outside Okhla Mandi in south Delhi in the early hours of Monday, police said.
His associate, identified by his first name Pappu managed to escape despite being surrounded by over 30 police personnel.
Police said the ‘contract killer’ survived the shoot-out because of the bulletproof vest he was wearing. Eight bullets were exchanged between the alleged criminals and the police. Of the four bullets fired by the policemen, two hit the bulletproof vest that the alleged contract killer, identified by his first name Tanvir, was wearing. An inspector and a sub-inspector sustained one bullet each fired by Tanvir. They escaped unhurt because they too were wearing bulletproof vest, police said.
Tanvir, who is also known as Munnavar, was wanted by the police in three crimes, including two murders of his rivals committed within a span of three hours on the intervening night of October 22 and October 23 last year in northeast Delhi’s Jafrabad and Bhajanpura. The murders were allegedly a result of a fallout between two criminal gangs in trans-yamuna areas — one led by Irfan alias Chennu Pehalwan, and another by Nasir alias Khyber Hayat. A reward of ₹70,000 was announced by the city police on Tanvir’s arrest.
Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (southeast), said Tanvir is a native of Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh and started criminal activities in 2011 from there.
Biswal confirmed that Tanvir was not involved in the Kasganj ‘communal’ violence that had erupted on Republic Day during the Tiranga Yatra taken out by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
THE CHASE
The police operation started on Sunday midnight when special staff team of southeast district police received a tip off about Tanvir and his accomplice visiting their associate in Garhi in white Maruti Swift car, police said.
A trap was laid between Garhi traffic signal and Captain Gaur Marg outside Okhla Mandi. Around 4.30 am, the car turned towards Okhla Mandi from Lajpat Nagar side and policemen started following it from Garhi traffic signal.
Teams positioned at Okhla Mandi traffic signal were asked to block the car using iron barricades and police vehicles. On realising that they are being followed, the car’s driver accelerated in a bid to flee and hit a barricade, said Biswal.
“As the car stopped, our policemen asked the occupants of the car to surrender. But Tanvir, who was behind the wheel, rolled down the windowpane and opened fired. Our staff retaliated and fired back. Tanvir was overpowered while his aide manage to flee,” Biswal said.
Tanvir’s interrogation, Biswal said, revealed that after shifting his base in Delhi from Kasganj in 2015, he joined gangster Satya Prakash alias Satte’s gang and began committing crimes. “He joined Chennu Pehalwan’s gang in 2016,” said Biswal.
BULLETPROOF JACKET
The rising incidents of ‘killings of criminals’ in police encounters in Uttar Pradesh and the ‘constant life threats from his rivals’ were the reasons why Tanvir always wore a bulletproof jacket while shifting his hideouts between Delhi and UP, police said quoting Tanvir’s disclosure.
The seized ballistic vest has been sent to Delhi’s forensic lab to ascertain its quality and the manufacturing company, police said.
Biswal said Tanvir revealed that he had procured the vest from Anisuddin aka Anissu Pandit, a Meerut-based gangster. “Tanvir claims that gangster Anisuddin gave him the vest a year ago. We are verifying his claims besides making efforts to establish the exact source through which the bulletproof jacket reached the criminals,” said DCP Biswal.