Tattoo artist, 3 others held for shooting brother-in-law to frighten ex-wife into giving up child

A 32-year-old tattoo artist and his three associates have been arrested for hatching a conspiracy and attempting to kill his brother-in-law with intent to intimidate

A 32-year-old tattoo artist and his three associates have been arrested for hatching a conspiracy and attempting to kill his brother-in-law with intent to intimidate his former wife and retain the custody of their child, the police said on Wednesday.

HT Image

The tattoo artist, Vishal Sharma, allegedly hired the other three arrested persons – Ramdev,25, Akshay Chauhan,25, and Guddu Kumar,23 – to kill his former wife Saloni, as she wanted the custody of their daughter who had been with him since their divorce in September 2019.

But when Sharma failed to ascertain his wife’s whereabouts and was not getting the opportunity to kill her, he allegedly asked the hitmen to shoot and injure his brother-in-law, so as to terrify his wife, said deputy commissioner of police (central) Sanjay Bhatia.

DCP Bhatia said Sharma came in Ramdev’s contact through a jailed criminal, Chhenu, and convinced him to kill his wife.

Ramdev included Akshay and Guddu in the conspiracy. “Sharma used to contact the hired killers on WhatsApp using an international SIM card, which we have recovered from his possession. He had paid them money to buy a KTM bike to be used in the crime and arrange the arms and ammunition needed,” Bhatia said.

On July 10, Saloni’s brother, Lakshya Nagpal,40, was on his way home to East Patel Nagar when two men on a KTM bike came from behind and shot him in his right thigh. A case of attempt to murder was registered and the injured man suspected the involvement of his sister’s former husband, who had recently threatened to kill him.

“Our prime suspect, Sharma, was on the run and was using his mother’s ATM card, which showed frequent transactions in Delhi and Haryana before and after the shooting. It was also learnt that Sharma was with Ramdev and Akshay at a guest house in Paharganj on July 2,” the DCP said.

The guest house’s CCTV footage was checked and the shoes Ramdev was wearing matched with those worn by the pillion rider who had shot and injured Nagpal. The police traced Akshay’s whereabouts to Uttam Nagar and caught him along with Guddu. Their interrogation led to the arrest of Sharma, his girlfriend and Ramdev from a hotel in Dwarka.

Two countrymade pistols, 18 cartridges and three spare magazines were seized along with the KTM Bike and a Dzire car, in which the suspects had gone on a shrine to Punjab’s Jalandhar after the shooting, DCP Bhatia said.