Goons go on rampage in East Delhi, shoot 1 dead

Police said the assailants fired at least 15 bullets in the two shooting cases. They said the goons also damaged two cars and a scooter in a congested lane in Ganesh Nagar Extension, where the first incident took place.

A group of 15 people armed with guns, baseball bats and sticks ran amok in east Delhi’s Ganesh Nagar Extension and Laxmi Nagar -- both densely populated areas -- shooting indiscriminately, killing a 23-year-old property dealer on Wednesday night, police said.

An Investigator said the gang was actually looking for a businessman, but ended up at the wrong address. (File photo. Representative image)

Police said the assailants fired at least 15 bullets in the two shooting cases.

They said the goons also damaged two cars and a scooter in a congested lane in Ganesh Nagar Extension, where the first incident took place. It, however, ended up being a case of mistaken identity.

An Investigator said the gang was actually looking for a businessman, but ended up at the wrong address. In Ganesh Nagar, they fired at two teenagers, sons of a grocery shop owner, Mukesh Yadav, around 11pm, when he was parking his car near his house. As Yadav hid inside the car, his sons aged 15 and 10 years ran towards their house and closed the iron door. The attackers followed them, and fired several times on the gate, the officer said.

Footage from a CCTV shows at least two men firing at the gate, with some more joining them in a minute and pushing open the door. Some barge into the house, while some damage a scooter parked nearby.

The two brothers, Aaryan and Ashu, hid on the first floor to save their lives.

A second officer, associated with the probe, said some goons who were waiting near Yadav’s car, spotted him inside the vehicle. They broke the windscreen of his car and dragged him out. As the assailants tried to rough up the man and were about to shoot him dead, one of them screamed that he was not the person they had come for, the officer said. Leaving Yadav behind, the assailants soon fled the spot in their cars and on two-wheelers, brandishing their weapons to avoid any resistance from local residents, the second officer said.

Half an hour later, the goons appeared in Laxmi Nagar, just half a kilometre away from the first crime scene. There Mayur Chauhan, 23, was celebrating the birthday of his would be mother-in-law at her home in Laxmi Nagar -- 500 metres away from his house in Guru Ram Dass Nagar.

A third investigator said Chauhan received a call from someone who asked him to come near a local restaurant. Chauhan went there with his two friends, Raman and Kalu.

Chauhan’s father, Sanjeev Chauhan who is also into property business, said over a dozen people were waiting for for his son near the restaurant, quoting the events narrated by the victim’s friends. As soon as Chauhan reached there, an altercation broke out between him and the man who called him. The man and his friends assaulted Chauhan and forcibly bundled him inside the car, the father said.

“They wanted to abduct my son but he fought back and managed to get out of the car. He ran in a lane to save himself. The assailants chased him for 100 metres and opened fire at him. Three bullets hit my son in his back and shoulder. They fired at least five bullets at him. Despite being hit and bleeding, my son ran for nearly 50 metres and collapsed. Raman and Kalu rushed him to a private hospital, where he was declared brought dead,” Sanjeev Chauhan said. He accused Mayur’s school friend-cum-rival behind the attack but the police said they were ascertaining if the person was involved in the attack or not.

According to Sanjeev, the suspect lives near their home and often threatened and abused his son over phone. He said that in 2018, Mayur went outside his rival’s house and fired bullets in the air.

“His family members later filed a case against my son, alleging that the bullet had hit the personal security officer (PSO) of his uncle, an advocate. But the medical examination of the injured PSO revealed that he was not injured by my son’s bullet. They panicked and compromised with us. After that episode, no further fights and altercation occurred between us,” added Sanjeev.

Mayur is survived by his parents, grandmother and a married sister. He was recently engaged with his girlfriend and their wedding was scheduled in December.

Additional deputy commissioner of police (east) Vinit Kumar said that the scanning of the CCTV footage of the two crimes spot and their preliminary investigation has confirmed that the assailants in the two crimes were the same.

Deputy commissioner of police (east) Priyanka Kashyap said, “We have registered two separate first information reports (FIRs) at the Shakarpur and Laxmi Nagar police stations in connection with the two firing incident. Several teams have been formed to identify and nab the assailants.”