Deadly weekend as four shootings ring out in Capital leaving 4 dead
NEW DELHI: Close to 20 rounds of bullets were fired in the Capital in less than 18 hours between Saturday and Sunday, leading to the deaths of four people, and reigniting fears of gun violence returning to Delhi after months of relative calm.
Three of the four shootings appeared to be motivated by what police say was likely “personal enmity”, and the gunmen in all four crimes followed a similar modus operandi: they arrived in pairs on motorcycles and intercepted their victims before opening fire. The latest shooting took place on Sunday when the victim stopped at a traffic signal on a busy road in Patparganj.
The first two crimes took place within minutes of each other. At 8:30pm in Outer Delhi’s Swaroop Nagar, 36-yearold Sonu Rana was stopped by three men on a motorcycle while he and a friend had halted at the Palla traffic signal on their own two-wheeler. The men chased away Rana’s friend before firing four rounds into their target, who died at the spot.
Meanwhile in north-east Delhi’s Dayalpur, four men on two motorcycles reached a factory where they sought out 45-year-old vegetable vendor Farookh Pehwalwan. Pehalwan was shot dead inside the factory, police said, estimating that 4-5 rounds were fired.
Approximately 15 minutes later and roughly 600 metres away in Nehru Vihar, the same men are believed to have shot dead 47-year-old property dealer Abdul Hamid in his office. Police said Hamid knew Pehalwan and are investigating the shootings as connected.
The fourth crime took place on Sunday at 2pm in the heart of East Delhi, when three men on a motorcycle surrounded a white hatchback that had stopped at the traffic signal near Hasanpur bus depot in Patparganj. The shooters blocked both front doors before pumping at least seven bullets through front windows, killing the lone occupant who was identified as Yogesh.
None of the suspects have been detained yet, senior police officials associated with the cases said.
Police data till June 30 shows that firearms were used in 292 serious cases: 48 of these were murders, 117 attempted murders, 125 robberies and two were dacoities. This number was, however, nearly 30% less than 2019, when 415 cases of murder, attempt to murder, dacoity and robbery were reported during the corresponding period last year. According to an analysis of data from last year’s crimes till mid-October, there were at least 1,017 shots fired across the city in 310 incidents. The bullets killed at least 102 people and left another 164 injured, a trend that some former and current police officers described as “disturbing” and “scary”.
Delhi Police officials defended the force’s actions in curbing firearm crimes. “Delhi Police makes continuous endeavour to end the gun culture in the city and for that all-round efforts, which include identifying the illegal manufacturers, unearthing their factories, and neutralising their entire chain of suppliers and receivers, are being made,” said Delhi Police spokesperson, Eish Singhal.
“Apart from catching members of criminal gangs with illegal firearms as well as dreaded criminals, we are now following the back trail and reaching up to the prime source from where the weapon was supplied,” the spokesperson added.