East Delhi woke up to multiple rounds of firing in the wee hours of Friday when a 29-year-old man was shot dead by members of a rival gang inside his car outside the V3S Mall in East Delhi’s Preet Vihar area. The murder could be the fallout of gang wars, which have been happening in East Delhi, over spreading of the tentacles of betting and satta racket, police said.
According to the police, the incident took place around 2 am when Vishal Suri, a property dealer, came to the mall to have food with his friends.
Omvir Singh Bishnoi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) said, “They parked the white Swift Dzire car by road. Two friends of Vishal Suri went to an eatery inside the V3S Mall to buy dinner. Vishal Suri was seated in the car when a group of three to four men came in a car and fired at him.”
“A total of seven to eight rounds of bullets were exchanged between Vishal and the other group. Vishal who was hit by three bullets died on the spot. A member of the rival gang too sustained bullet injuries after which the rival gang fled the spot,” said a senior police officer.
Vishal’s friends informed the police after which a team from Preet Vihar police station rushed him to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead.
Police said that they were scanning the footage of CCTVs installed at the V3S Mall to establish the exact sequence of events.
A day before the incident on Wednesday night, Vishal, who is a resident of Shastri Nagar in Geeta Colony had gone to Rani Bagh to threaten one Nishant (25).
Both Vishal and Nishant were running their separate betting racket in the area of Rani Bagh.
Post the demise of his parents, Vishal had been living with his relatives in Geeta Colony. He claimed to be a property dealer but was illegally running a betting racket, said police sources.
“Both the victim and the accused have a criminal background. Hours before Vishal was shot dead in his car, he along with his friends had gone to meet the accused persons,” said a senior police officer, privy to the investigation.
The senior police officer added, “We have called Nishant for questioning. We will make a breakthrough in the case soon,”
Police said that they have registered a case of murder at the Preet Vihar police station against unknown persons. Further investigation is underway.