Suspects injured in encounter with cops

NEWDELHI: Three suspected criminals were shot at and injured in an encounter with Delhi Police’s special cell near Swarn Jayanti Park in outer Delhi’s Rohini in the early hours of Monday, police said. Two policemen were hit in the encounter but their bulletproof vests saved them, Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (special cell), said.

Five suspects, including a juvenile, were nabbed after the encounter and five pistols and ammunition recovered. “They are all associates of jailed gangster Neeraj Bawania and had been targeting members of their rival gang led by Rajesh Bawania who is in jail,” said the DCP.

Some of the arrested men were involved in the gunning down of two members of a rival gang – one on January 20 and another on February 1, the officer said.

In the first case, a man named Mohit was shot dead in north Delhi’s Haidewrpur over past enmity. The second murder was of Vikas Chauhan, a school van driver who was gunned down outside a private school in Narela.

The nabbed men have been identified as Sunil, Sukhvinder, Ravinder and Arpit Chillar, and a 17-year-old boy. The men are aged between 20 and 34.

DCP Yadav said the special cell received a tip-off that the five suspects would be arriving in a black car near the Swarn Jayanti Park around 4.30 am on Monday.

“We waited and found the men approaching us around 5 am. They were in a black Honda Amaze. When we signalled them to stop, they accelerated but ended up ramming a road divider,” said the DCCP.

When the five men found themselves cornered, then stepped out of the car and began firing at the police team, hitting a head constable and a constable on their bulletproof vests.

“We fired back, hitting Sunil, Sukhvinder and Arpit in their legs. The criminals fired six rounds and we returned seven rounds,” said the DCP.