Delhi: Two people and a minor nabbed for Seelampur murder

A video of the incident, captured on the CCTV camera of a local establishment, went viral on social media

The Delhi Police have arrested two men and have apprehended a minor boy for the brazen daylight murder of a 35-year-old man at Seelampur in northeast Delhi last week, officers said.

The two adult accused in police custody. One minor has been apprehended in the day light murder, police said. (HT Photo)

The officers identified the arrested suspects as Salman Faizan and Shoaib Mastan, both aged 20. According to the police, the two men, along with a 16-year-old juvenile, were budding gangsters and shot dead Mohammad Shahnawaz after he refused to pay them protection money.

Giving details of the case, police said that Shahnawaz operated rides for children during fairs. On April 12, at around 11.30, he was in a lane in the Seelampur E-block scrap market when a person walked up to him and shot him point blank in the head.

“The entry wound was in the rear side of the head, occipital region, and the exit wound was on the left side temporal region. The victim was taken to Jag Pravesh Chandra hospital from where he was referred to Lok Nayak hospital in central Delhi, where he succumbed to the bullet injury,” said deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Joy Tirkey.

A video of the incident, captured on the CCTV camera of a local establishment, went viral on social media.

Police said that through CCTV footage and manual intelligence gathering, the attacker was identified as a minor boy, who was apprehended two days after the murder. Three other suspects were identified as Rehan (single name), Faizan and Shoaib. All three were absconding, and a special staff team was tasked to nab the absconding suspects, said the DCP.

“The team mounted technical surveillance and further scanned and analysed footage of the CCTVs installed in areas around the crime scene. Raids were conducted at the possible hideouts of the accused persons. On Tuesday night, the team members caught Salman and Shoaib after learning that the two would come near Jheel Park gate to meet someone,” Tirkey said, adding that Rehan is still absconding.

A senior police officer associated with the case said that the suspects were trying to “set an example” by murdering Shahnawaz.

“All the accused wanted to become famous as a gang. They wanted to extort protection money from Shahnawaz. He refused to pay them the protection money. They shot him dead for not paying heed to their demands, and to also set an example for others who refused to pay them,” the officer said, on condition of anonymity.