After a shootout with criminals, a joint team of Delhi Police and Punjab Police arrested five criminals and recovered a large cache of weapons from a house near south west Delhi’s Dwarka Mor Metro Station on Tuesday.
According to police, the suspects were involved in several crimes, including carjacking. Though five people have been caught, police are still combing the area to look for one or more men who might have escaped after the shootout that took place after police cordoned off the area in which police and criminals fired several rounds against each other with the accused giving up at the end.
The operation against the suspected criminals was initiated by the Punjab Police who approached their counterparts in Delhi on Tuesday morning after they received a tip-off about the presence of the criminals at the building.
When a joint team of Delhi and the Punjab Police reached the spot, the criminals escaped from the building. Police said they had made a Bollywood style escape. They used a makeshift ladder and hanging bed sheets that were found tied to the back window of the second-floor hideout, said police.
However, police teams managed to track them near the metro station. Soon the firing started after the suspected gang of carjackers refused to surrender, said police.
In the shootout, which took place later, near the Dwarka Mor Metro Station, around 30 rounds were fired, after which police managed to round up and arrested the criminals.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), south-west district, Shibesh Singh said no one was injured in the firing. Police personnel of Bindapur police station assisted them in the operation.
“At least 13 firearms and around 100 cartridges were allegedly recovered from the accused after the incident that took place between 11 am and 12 pm. The accused has been identified as gang members of the lawrence Bishone, Sampat Nehra and Ravinder alias Kali gang”, the DCP said.
“The accused people have been identified as Deepak, Sumit, Tiku, Sumit and Kirshan, all of whom are residents of Haryana,” said a senior police officer.
“The weapons recovered from them are five .32 Bore with 100 cartridges, five .315 Bore with 12 cartridges, one .315 Bore Rifle, one 12 Bore Rifle and five .22 bore pistol,” added the officer.
The gang members arrested were previously involved and wanted by the Punjab Police in several attempt to murder, rioting, murder, carjacking and Arms Act cases, the police officer said.
The group was involved in crimes committed in Punjab and when police net tightened, they fled to Delhi, police said.
Ramesh, who works for a private firm and an eyewitness to the entire shootout, said he was headed to work when he saw a man in plain clothes sprint with a sophisticated weapon in his hand. “The man then began firing towards a building. Some people inside the building were also firing shots,” said Ramesh, who lives near the Dwarka Mor Metro station.
The man said he soon realised the person in the plain clothes was a policeman. The officer said the suspects were hiding on the second floor of a building, which has offices on the ground floor and flats on the upper floors. “A property dealer had got them a flat on rent. We are probing his role,” said the officer.
The accused will be produced before a Delhi court and then will be taken to Punjab on a transfer warrant. Further Investigation is going, the official added.