‘GOOD BOYS’ WHO LEFT A DWARKA NEIGHBOURHOOD SCARRED

NEW DELHI: On Tuesday, 30 minutes of intermittent firing didn’t just shatter a couple of windows in the quiet Shanti Park neighbourhood in Dwarka.

For the locals, the shootout also shattered the image of the neighbourhood being a peaceful one.

A man named Toni from Punjab had taken one of the flats in Plot Number 5 of Shanti Park on rent on October 21 this year, locals said. Soon, five more men moved in with him and together they presented the image of perfect neighbours — “nice decent boys who kept to themselves and were pleasant when they occasionally interacted.”

Exactly a month later on Tuesday, sounds of heavy firing and surrounding rumours led the locals to believe that “terrorists” were living in the house. Later, when news broke out that the arrested men were gangsters and not terrorists, most residents said it made no difference to them.

“This was a safe neighbourhhood. And whoever they were, they disguised themselves really well. They would greet us and were well behaved. Had we known there was a problem, we would have reported it to the police. We are still scared,” said a resident of the building where the shootout took place.

His was the only family present during the shootout. The building has three floors with three flats each on every floor and a real-estate dealer’s office on the ground floor. The house where the alleged gangsters were residing is owned by one Inderjeet Khullar according to police.

Khullar had applied for tenant verification before renting the house to Toni. Asked about the status, DCP southwest, Shibesh Singh, said they had sent his documents to Punjab Police for local verification but could not share whether a clearance had come or not.