28-year-old gets himself shot to implicate rivals

NEW DELHI: A 28-year-old man got himself shot in his arm and leg on Tuesday night in order to try and implicate three men with whom his friend was involved in a monetary dispute, police said on Thursday.

The man, identified by only his first name Rahul, is hospitalised with gunshot wounds to his elbow and leg and will be arrested soon, said Atul Kumar Thakur, deputy commissioner of police (northeast). Rahul’s three aides have already been arrested.

Thakur said it was the second time in four months that Rahul has been shot by the same set of rivals. The DCP said that the police will probe if the previous attack too was staged to implicate his rivals.

A senior investigator said Rahul was shot in his leg in February and three men, who the man claimed to be his rivals, arrested on charges of attempt to murder. “The accused men were out on bail in that case,” said the investigator. A monetary dispute involving Rahul’s friend and a rival, both property dealers, is at the centre of this conflict.

Rahul, who works as a driver, lives with his family in Maujpur. He told the police that he was returning home with his friend, Gulzar, on a motorcycle around 11.30pm on Tuesday when four men on two motorcycles intercepted them and shot at him with an intention to kill. Rahul identified three of the four suspects as the same men who were involved in trying to kill him in February.

“No calls were made to the police from the crime spot. There were no eyewitnesses . Moreover, Gulzar was not injured in the entire episode,” said the DCP.

So, the two men, Rahul and Gulzar, were separately questioned about the circumstances of the attack. “There were discrepancies in their statements. They were also changing their statements,” said the DCP. The police then decided to call the three suspects for interrogation. “The suspects claimed innocence. Unlike most criminals, they had not gone into hiding,” said the officer.

When put through sustained interrogation, Rahul and Gulzar allegedly confessed to having lied about the attack.