Shootings, robbery bids, Insta posts: Minor’s ‘application’ to top gangster

Police said the boy was apprehended from north-east Delhi’s Shiv Vihar area on Thursday based on a tip-off, while his two minor friends, who are accused of aiding and abetting him, escaped.

A 17-year-old boy who wanted to join the gang of Lawrence Bishnoi, one of the top Delhi gangsters, thought of a novel way to push his resume for the job.

Together with his two friends, the juvenile committed a series of crimes in north-east Delhi between Monday and Wednesday, investigators said. (Representative image)

Besides several posts on his Instagram account detailing his criminal activities -- each marked with the relevant IPC section as suffix such as 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) -- he would also brag about his association with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to instil fear in his rivals, police officers who detained him in connection with a crime spree in north-east Delhi said on Friday.

According to special commissioner (crime) Ravinder Yadav the boy was taking advantage of relaxed laws for minors.

“By bragging in advance on Instagram about the crimes he planned to commit, the boy was trying to establish his dominance in the northeast Delhi region, and draw the attention of notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his gang,” said Yadav.

The officer said that the boy, a resident of Ghaziabad’s Loni who dropped out of school after Class 7, had once been apprehended in connection with a murder on November 2021, but the case was disposed of by Juvenile Justice Board and he was set free later that year.

In May last year, he was allegedly involved in another murder but was released from an observation home in December last year. The police are yet to ascertain the exact status and circumstances of the two cases.

The boy, since his release from the observation home, befriended two other minor boys who had also spent time in an observation home.

Together with his two friends, the juvenile committed a series of crimes in north-east Delhi between Monday and Wednesday, investigators said.

They said that. on Monday, when the three boys allegedly fired at a passerby in Welcome area to “announce their presence” and then went on to rob another person of a scooter, the police said. On Tuesday, they allegedly tried and failed to rob a scooter in Jafrabad, and on Wednesday, they fired at a police team that intercepted them in Bhajanpura, police said.

Police said the boy was apprehended from north-east Delhi’s Shiv Vihar area on Thursday based on a tip-off, while his two minor friends, who are accused of aiding and abetting him, escaped.

No one was injured in these incidents, police said, adding their main plan was to allegedly gun down a man who had beaten one of the them recently, and recorded a video of the act, said Yadav.

“By apprehending this boy, we may have averted a murder,” said Yadav.