Property dealer stages his own shooting to extort landlord

A property dealer staged an attack with two accomplices to extort his landlord, claiming he was shot at, police say. All were arrested.

New Delhi: A 42-year-old property dealer allegedly staged an attack on himself with the help of two of his friends in order to later accuse his landlord of shooting at him and thereby extort him. Police said the incident took place in north Delhi’s Chandni Chowk on May 10.

Police said three people have been arrested in the case (Photo for representation)

According to police, Avinash Kumar called them at around 10.30pm on May 10 and alleged he was inside his house when an unknown person entered and fired 2-3 rounds at him. One of the bullets had hit his thigh.

Kumar lived with his family in a rented house in Kucha Bulaki Begum colony.

“The injured complainant was taken to LNJP Hospital by his son for treatment. During inspection of the spot, the crime team found blood stains and seized two empty cartridges. A case of attempted murder was lodged. Two teams were put on the case to catch the accused,” said a senior police officer.

After analysing CCTV footage of the nearby areas, tracing the accused’s route, two people involved in the firing were identified as Deepak Kumar and Lokesh Dahiya. The two were arrested from Dahiya’s Sonipat residence on Friday.

During interrogation, both the accused told police that complainant Kumar is the mastermind of this conspiracy. Kumar was held with a country made pistol along with two magazines and 14 live cartridges.

“We found that the owner of the property had asked Kumar to evict the premises. Kumar had also filed a civil suit in Tis Hazari Court against the landlord. He, along with his accomplices, hatched a conspiracy to stage an attack on himself and accuse the owner later. He planned to pressurise the owner for a compromise wherein he could demand a hefty amount to settle the case and also avoid getting evicted,” DCP (North) Raja Banthia said.