3 of interstate gang held after shoot-out
NEW DELHI: Three members of an interstate gang led by jailed criminals Lawrence Bishnoi and Virender Pratap alias Kala Rana were arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police after a brief exchange of fire at Simon Bolivar Marg near Buddha Jayanti Park, about five kilometres away from President House in central Delhi on Thursday evening, police said.
The arrested men were involved in several cases of extortion, murder and firing over extortion, robbery, attempt to murder and other crimes in Bihar, Haryana and Punjab, police said.
Officers said that a total of three bullets were fired – two by the alleged criminals and one by them. Nobody was hurt in the gunfight. Police seized three semi-automatic pistols and 13 cartridges from the arrested men who had come to Delhi from Chandigarh in a white Scorpio SUV.
DCP (Special Cell) Jasmeet
Singh said that on Thursday, the southern range team of the special cell received information that three members of the Lawrence Bishnoi-kala Rana gang would be crossing the Simon Bolivar Marg in a Scorpio car between 7pm and 8pm. The police laid a cordon and spotted the vehicle with four persons around 7.15pm. They signalled the driver to stop. But the driver quickly reversed the vehicle in a bid to flee. However, the police
blocked the vehicle, forcing the driver to stop.
“Two men, later identified as Vivek Puri, 22, and Prashant, 24, exited the Scorpio and started firing at the team. One bullet was fired by our team in self defence. All the four suspects were overpowered,” said DCP Singh, adding that Puri, Prashant and their associate, Ashwani, 25, were arrested while antecedents of the driver are still being ascertained.