Saket shooter used gun of his personal security officer: Delhi police

Investigators said that the PSO, Ajay (goes by first name only), was also injured in the firing along with the woman, M Radha, 42

Suspended lawyer Kameshwar Singh, 49, used the gun of his personal security officer (PSO) to shoot at a 42-year-old woman inside the crowded Saket court complex on Friday, officers of the Delhi Police crime branch said after arresting Singh from Faridabad.

Suspended lawyer Kameshwar Singh, 49, used the gun of his personal security officer (PSO) to shoot at a 42-year-old woman, M Radha, inside the crowded Saket court complex in New Delhi on Friday. (ANI)

Investigators said that the PSO, Ajay (goes by first name only), was also injured in the firing along with the woman, M Radha, 42.

According to the officers, Singh admitted that after the shooting, he fled the court complex on a scooter and threw away the firearm somewhere along the way to the house of an acquaintance in Faridabad, from where he was arrested in the afternoon.

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“We are questioning Singh to determine where he threw the gun and recover it, as it is critical evidence in the attempted murder case that was filed at the Saket police station in connection with the shooting in which Radha and Ajay were injured. His claim that he stole his PSO’s licensed gun to attack Radha is also being investigated. We will also confront Ajay with the revelations,” said Ravindra Singh Yadav, special commissioner of police (crime).

The officer said Ajay was a private security guard not associated with Delhi Police.

When asked about the motive of the attack, an investigator, who asked not to be named, said that Singh had been demanding Radha to return ₹25 lakh that he had given to her through another lawyer, Rajender Jha, to invest in a scheme.

The officer said that Singh told the police that Radha had returned only ₹3 lakh. However, he added that Radha and Jha have told the police that they received about ₹18 lakh from Singh, of which they have already returned ₹17 lakh to him. According to the officer, Singh had filed a cheating case in which Radha and Jha were arrested in November. They were later released on bail.

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“Singh was dissatisfied because he had not received his money back. He had previously confronted Radha and threatened her with additional legal proceedings and danger to her life. Radha, on the other hand, was adamant and paid no attention to his demands. It triggered Singh,” the officer said, citing Singh’s statement to the police.

Following an altercation at the Saket court complex around 10 am on Friday, Singh allegedly snatched his PSO’s gun and shot at Radha, injuring her and the PSO, who may have attempted to reclaim his licensed weapon, the officer said.

Following the shooting, Singh fled through the canteen’s kitchen in the Lawyers Block building. According to the police, a case of attempted murder was filed against him, and multiple teams were formed to arrest him.

“We scanned footage from CCTV cameras inside the court complex and found that Singh fled on his scooter, which had a Delhi registration number. When one team arrived at his Chhatarpur home, it was locked. We tracked the suspect’s location through technical surveillance to Surya Nagar, Ismailpur, Faridabad. We discovered that one of his acquaintances lives nearby. We dispatched our crime branch officials, who found the scooter and arrested him from his friend’s house,” Special CP Yadav said.

According to Yadav, Singh revealed during interrogation that he had warned Radha that he would kill her in court, in full public view, if she did not return the money. “During the investigation, all disclosures made by the accused are subject to verification and corroboration,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Radha’s husband, Arun Ramaswammi, and her alleged co-accused in the cheating case, Rajender Jha, claimed that Singh threatened to kill her if she did not return the money.

“The Delhi high court ordered Radha to appear at the Saket police station every Tuesday and Friday as part of her bail conditions. Last Tuesday, Singh accosted Radha on a road near the police station, showed her a gun, and threatened to kill her,” Jha alleged.

When asked about the allegations, a senior police officer who did not want to be identified said, “Neither Radha nor her family members had informed us of any such threat. We will now investigate and confront Singh.”

Radha’s family claims she began her career as a teacher at a private school in Delhi and later gave private tuitions at her home in Vasant Kunj.