2 held for killing Delhi man after ‘arms deal fell through’

Police said the builder, Amit Goel, was shot dead allegedly because he had failed to deliver two imported sophisticated firearms despite taking a payment of ₹10 lakh from Sharma.

A week after a 40-year-old builder and professional shooter, who had alleged links with Delhi gangsters, was shot dead outside his office at Jwalaheri market near Paschim Vihar, the crime branch of the Delhi Police on Sunday said they have solved the murder and arrested prime suspect Deepanshu Sharma alias Deepak, an associate of the slain builder, from Rohtak in Haryana.

(HT FILE PHOTO.)

Police said the builder, Amit Goel, was shot dead allegedly because he had failed to deliver two imported sophisticated firearms despite taking a payment of ₹10 lakh from Sharma.

Instead of delivering the two pistols – one costing ₹7 lakh and the other ₹3 lakh – Goel started threatening Sharma with dire consequences if he contacted him again to demand either the firearms or the money back. Sharma was offended and enraged by the threats and he roped in his associates to kill the builder, said deputy commissioner of police (crime) Rohit Meena.

“Sharma shot Goel five times using an imported and sophisticated pistol that he had purchased from Goel earlier for ₹2 lakh. He also bought a used Toyota Corolla for ₹1 lakh to carry out the crime. Sharma’s associate, Sumit Soup, was in the car with him at the time of the murder on July 2. He is still on the run. Along with Sharma, we also arrested Bhupender alias Jokhad, who helped Sharma evade arrest following the murder,” said Meena.

Police said Goel was a renowned builder of Paschim Vihar and had an office by the name of “Property Capture”. On July 2 around 2.45 pm, Goel had come out of his office and was about to board his car when a man fired multiple rounds at him, killing him on the spot.

The assailant fled in a golden Corolla that was later abandoned in Mundka Industrial Area. A murder case was registered and investigation was taken up by several teams, including the special cell and crime branch.

“Goel was a professional shooter and used to illegally import sophisticated automatic weapons by misusing an import policy meant for professional (sports) shooters. He was arrested by the directorate of intelligence (DRI) in 2017 along with a Slovenian national for illegally importing 25 automatic pistols to India. He was allegedly involved in supplying imported weapons to gangsters of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana,” the DCP said.

The crime branch team said its probe revealed the involvement of Deepanshi Sharma, who had gone incognito since the day of the murder. On Saturday (July 9), the team traced him to Rohtak, where they intercepted a Renault KWID in Sector 2, and arrested Sharma and Jhokad.

Sharma’s interrogation revealed his association with Kaala Sahuwasia gang, to allegedly kill their common rival, Pradeep Kaasni, and it was for this purpose that Sharma was trying to procure weapons from Goel, police said.

“As Goel had taken ₹10 lakh from Sharma and was not delivering the imported weapons, Sharma planned to kill him and shot him dead on July 2,” Meena said.