Cops suspect hand of inter-state gang

A day after a gang of assailants shot a 55-year-old shop owner and injured his nephew, metres away from north Delhi’s Tis Hazari court complex, police are still groping for clues. HT reports.

A day after a gang of assailants shot a 55-year-old shop owner and injured his nephew, metres away from north Delhi’s Tis Hazari court complex, police are still groping for clues.

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The victim, identified as Rajender Jain, a stationery shop owner who operated from the adjacent Sadar Bazar area, was on his way to the Tis Hazari Metro Station when four men in a luxury vehicle waylaid them around 8 pm and pumped him with bullets.

“We have formed several teams and some leads have emerged. It seems that the amount snatched by the assailants was more than the complainants have claimed and the role of an insider is almost certain,” said a senior police officer.

According to police, Jain was accompanied by his nephew, Paras, and they were making their way to the metro station when a White Hyundai Accent car pulled up near them and its occupants started firing at them indiscriminately.

Opposed to investigating the case on the lines of a localised incident, sources said that they had reason to believe that an interstate gang might be behind the incident.

“Eyewitnesses had claimed that there were three to four men in the vehicle. The assailants then grabbed a bag, which, according to the complainants, contained Rs 25,000 in cash, and fled the scene,” the officer said.

Rajender and Paras had been rushed to the adjacent St. Stephen’s Hospital with two bullet injuries each. Rajender succumbed and Paras is still critical.