An Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) of the Delhi Police, a 47-year-old dreaded criminal and his associate were gunned down when armed gangsters opened indiscriminate firing on them in Outer Delhi’s Mianwali Nagar on Sunday night. The incident is an ominous sign of the return of gang wars in Delhi, fear sources in police.
Preliminary probe has revealed that six to eight people used sophisticated 9 MM pistols to carry out the attack in which Bhupender, alias Monu Dariyapur, Arun and Assistant SI Vijay Singh — personal security officer of Bhupender — were killed while others sustained injuries. local resident Monty, who witnessed the firing, said, “Around 11pm, a gang of men riding a Pulsar bike came and opened fire on the Ciaz car which was parked at the Shaukeen Chowk area of the National Market. While Bhupender was at the driving seat, his friend Arun was sitting next to him and Yogesh was seated at the back. The two personal security officers (PSOs) — ASI Vijay and Constable Kuldeep in civil dress — were standing near the vehicle.
“When people tried to intervene, the men threatened them. They fired more than 45 rounds of bullets.” Investigators said Constable Kuldeep, who had sustained bullet injuries on his arms managed to make a call to the Police Control Room.
A senior police official said at least eight criminal cases of attempt to murder, land grabbing and cases under Arms Act have been registered against Bhupender.
A native of Dariyapur village in Southwest Delhi, the deceased had recently shifted to Paschim Vihar area.
MN Tiwari, Deputy Commissioner of Police (outer), said, “We received a PCR call at around 11:30pm that few people are lying near a car bleeding profusely. We reached the spot and rushed them to the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial hospital where Bhupender, Arun and ASI Vijay Singh were declared brought dead. Injured Yogesh and Constable Kuldeep are undergoing treatment.”
Bhupender’s father Phool Singh told The Pioneer, “My son told us that he is going out to eat with his friends. It was only in the early morning on Monday at around 6am through a post on Facebook that we got to know that Bhupender has been shot dead. We immediately rushed to the Mianwali Nagar police station. They asked us to go to the Sanjay Gandhi hospital.”
Narrating how it all began, Singh said, “In 2006, Bhupender got married to the cousin of Sonu Dariyapur. Both of them were good friends. Since the girl, Rajrani, was from the same village, we were against the marriage. While we accepted the marriage after they were wedded, Sonu and his friend Anil were furious over the matrimonial alliance. In 2006, they opened fire at Bhupender and his wife Rajrani near the Punjabi Bagh flyover. Both of them had sustained four to five bullet injuries but fortunately they survived. Since that day, Sonu had been trying to harm my family. A few months later after that attack, they also shot dead Bhupender’s driver, Brahma Singh.
“The tension increased when in 2008, the gang of Sonu fired at and murdered Bhupender’s younger brother, Sudhir Kumar near Dichaon Kalan area.”
“We are fed up with the killings. I have lost two out of my three sons. I just want the violence to end,” said Singh who has lost vision in one eye.
In light of the growing tension between the two sides -Sonu and Bhupender - the court had ordered the Delhi Police to provide them protection, said sources, adding that for the past three and a half years, three to four PSOs used to guard them.