8 people plotted to kill Gogi, say cops
NEW DELHI: The plot to kill gangster Jitender Gogi was allegedly hatched in Delhi’s Mandoli jail and eight people were part of it, said police officers interrogating jailed gangster Sunil Maan, alias Tillu Tajpuriya, Gogi’s arch-rival.
Gogi was gunned down on September 24 in a Rohini court, and Tajpuria, who was already in jail for another offence, was questioned as the prime conspirator.
His three-day custodial interrogation ended on Sunday, and police learnt the original plan was to kill Gogi in a court in Panipat, Haryana. But when the gangsters learned that Gogi will be produced in Rohini a week before, they decided to take him down in Delhi, said an investigator, seeking anonymity.
“Sunil Maan, who was once a friend of Gogi and now a member of Tajpuriya’s gang, was a co-accused in a decade-old attempt-to-murder case in Alipur, in which he and Gogi were arrested. As both of them were supposed to be present in the same courtroom on September 24, there is a strong possibility that Maan may have tipped off Tajpuriya about the court visit, allowing him to plot Gogi’s assassination. To verify this, we may seek Maan’s custody from
jail,” the investigator said.
Police said Tajpuriya’s old accomplice, gangster Naveen Bali, was also a co-conspirator. Like Tajpuriya, Bali is in Mandoli jail, and on Tuesday, the crime branch team secured his custody for two days.
Around 1pm on September 24, Gogi, who was in Tihar Jail, was escorted to court number 207 on the second floor of the Rohini court complex by 10 personnel of the 3rd Battalion, Delhi Police, while 15-20 plainclothesmen from the Special Cell and the Rohini district police were present as well.
Judge Gagandeep Singh in court when the two assailants, dressed as lawyers and seated on chairs in the courtroom, whipped out pistols and began firing at Gogi. As Gogi was hit, the policemen present there responded and killed the suspects in retaliatory fire.
The next day, Special Cell sleuths arrested two more suspects, Umang Yadav and Vinay Yadav, who had accompanied
Gogi’s shooters in an i-10 car to the court from a flat in Haiderpur village, three hours before the shootout. The duo’s interrogation and footage from the CCTV cameras installed at the court complex revealed that a fifth suspect was also present. The suspect was not known to the four men, as he was directly getting orders from his handler in jail.
“Umang and Vinay had told us that the fifth man was sent by Tajpuriya. We interrogated Tajpuriya about that man’s identity and whereabouts. However, he claimed that he did not know the man because he was sent there by Bali. We will question Bali about him once we have his custody,” said a second police officer, requesting anonymity.
The police are also looking for Tajpuriya’s second-in-command (his name has been withheld) for arranging for the firearms and other logistical support required in the execution of the crime.
So far, the cellphone allegedly used by Tajpuriya in jail to get live updates about the shooting through internet video calling hasn’t been found. He told police that he destroyed the phone by first crushing it and then setting it on fire, the second officer said.
Sandeep Goel, director general of Delhi prisons, said no burnt phone was found.