Shooting star Kajal Saini’s car window smashed, 400 live cartridges stolen

The stolen 22 cartridges and the rifles belong to his fellow shooter Kajal Saini, who won two gold and a silver in the National Championships in Thiruvananthapuram this year.

Around 400 live cartridges, money and documents were allegedly stolen from a car of a medal-winning shooter outside the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) office in south Delhi’s Tughlaqabad on Friday.

Kumar said the ammunition could be used only in certain German-manufactured rifles and hoped it would be of little use for a thief (File)

The thieves who smashed the window of the Hyundai WRV to steal the items didn’t spot two rifles kept in a box under the bags that contained the ammunition, prompting shooter Deepak Kumar to believe they did not know what they were stealing.

Kumar, a 31-year-old shooting champion in 10-metre air rifle competitions, had won medals in the 2018 Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.

The stolen 22 cartridges and the rifles belong to his fellow shooter Kajal Saini, who won two gold and a silver in the National Championships in Thiruvananthapuram this year.

The thieves also made away with around ₹10,000 cash and documents belonging to the two shooters and their third colleague, Ravi Rathi, Kumar said.

Vijay Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (south), said a case of theft had been registered at the Ambedkar Nagar police station.

The crime happened around 2.30 pm on Friday when the trio was at the NRAI office for practice and to compete for the Indian squad selection trials.

“We parked my car outside the NRAI office and went inside. Sometime later, someone informed that my car’s window pane was smashed. We rushed there to find three bags containing 400 live cartridges, 200 empty shells, some cash and documents missing. The thieves didn’t know about two guns kept on the same seat,” said Kumar.

Kumar said the ammunition could be used only in certain German-manufactured rifles and hoped it would be of little use for a thief. The police formed a special team and were scanning CCTV footage of the area for clues.