Rival gang member caught for daylight murder of ‘gangsters’

NEWDELHI: Delhi police on Thursday arrested a 24-year-old Bahadurgarh resident for the murder of two city ‘gangsters’ – Sandeep Mental and Pawan Maan Ponny – on Wednesday afternoon.

The two men, who were out on bail, were killed in a shootout at Bamnoli village in the outskirts of Delhi on Wednesday afternoon. The arrested Bahadurgarh resident is Arjun Dalal alias Monu, from a rival gang.

Police said the two were killed because of rivalry over a disputed property in Dwarka. At least 40 rounds of fire were exchanged in the shootout outside a school on Wednesday.

The two men have criminal cases, such as murder, robbery, land grabbing and extortion against them. In 2014, when Mann was arrested for land-grabbing, police claimed Mental was running the racket from prison.

Deputy commissioner of police (Dwarka), Shibesh Singh said empty cartridges were found at the spot by the forensic team. “The glasses of the white Swift car in which they were travelling were broken and the seats were soaked in blood. The victims were rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital where they were declared brought dead,” Singh said.

“Many suspects were put on surveillance. Dossiers of criminals active in the area were analysed along with call detail records of the deceased. Raids were conducted at a number of places in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. And then we received a tip-off,” the DCP said.

The officer said that on Thursday, police received information about Dalal, who would come to Dwarka to meet his associates and collect money.

“Our team laid a trap and arrested Dalal, who confessed he is part of a gang led by the main accused Rajeev alias Monu. He said Sandeep Mental had threatened Rajeev over a dispute ,” the DCP said.

Police said Rajeev had spoken about the threat with his associates Arjun and Akshay, and they planned to eliminate Mental.

Police are on the lookout for the Akshay and Rajeev.