On the stormy Sunday evening, the busy Malviya Nagar market in South Delhi was left rattled when two bike borne armed assailants rained bullets on a history-sheeter criminal leaving him almost dead, less than 150 meters from a police booth. Soon, a heavy police presence took over the market. Within hours, following intensive raids and surveillance, police teams managed to nab one of the shooters, while the other manages to remain absconding, senior officials said.
A senior police officer said on anonymity that preliminary probe has revealed the injured, Iqbal Qureshi (35), is a wanted criminal of the area and works for the gang of one Prince Teotia, while the assailants, one of which was arrested, belong to the Rohit Chaudhary gang.
The incident has sparked the fear of gangwars returning to the South Delhi. According to senior police officers, the arrested accused was identified as Anuj Gulia who was earlier arrested in 2015 in a kidnapping case. A police team nabbed Gulia from near a park in Chirag Dilli and recovered a pistol from him.
Qureshi, who is under treatment at a hospital in Saket, said, "I was sitting in my meat shop in the main market when suddenly two men rained bullets on me. I have identified them for police as Chaudhary's men. They shot me five times."
One Arun, who was accompanying Qureshi at the time of incident, said that he had gone to an ATM, when he heard gun shots. When he rushed back he found Qureshi bleeding profusely, and rushed to hospital. "He is now out of danger," he told reporters.
"Interrogations revealed that Gulia had Aas Mohammad alias Ashu, a wanted criminal, to his support in the shooting. Aashu, a resident of Sangam Vihar is wanted in many criminal cases. He was arrested in January from Ghaziabad in an extortion case," the police officer said.
Confirming the incident, deputy commissioner of police (south), Romil Baaniya said that around 9.09 pm a call was received reporting that some people have shot at a man near shop number six in the main Malviya Nagar market. "A team that was rushed to the spot, found that the injured, identified as Iqbal Qureshi has received four gunshot injuries. He was rushed to AIIMS trauma centre. He has sustained bullet injuries on left leg, right hand and in abdomen," the DCP said.
The victim had also suspected that Rohit and Ashu might be behind the attack on him, Baaniya said. "later, following raids, one accused Anuj Gulia who had fired at Qureshi was held and weapon was recovered from him. The other associate has been identified as Ashu and six teams have been formed to trace him. Motive behind the attack is personal enmity," the officer added.
A senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, said that Chaudhary and Teotia worked together until both of them were jailed in 2015 in a murder case of lado Sarai, with 13 others. "Both of them then started operating from jail and ran extortion rackets to extort money from builders in south Delhi. It was later that money came between Chaudhary and Teotia and the two got split in different gangs. While Chaudhary was released from Tihar about two months ago, Teotia is lodged in Mandoli jail," the officer said.