Criminals shoot at police, flee

Four alleged criminals managed to give the police a slip after a shootout in Dwarka area of southwest Delhi in the early hours of Sunday.

Four alleged criminals managed to give the police a slip after a shootout in Dwarka area of southwest Delhi in the early hours of Sunday.

HT Image

The Crime Branch, an elite unit of the Delhi Police, had been on the trail of the gang of robbers for the past few days.
"The team was trailing the accused from Mussoorie. When the robbers, who were in a Tata Safari, reached Dwarka area in Delhi, the police asked them to surrender," said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.

“The robbers retaliated and opened indiscriminate fire on them,” the officer said.

An eight-member team of the anti-extortion cell of the Crime Branch had been on the trail of the gang for the past few days.

The police said the incident was reported around 3 a.m. near Sector-16 in Dwarka.

"We had specific information that the gang was involved in a Paschim Vihar case last month where a businessman was robbed of Rs 25 lakh when he had stopped at a traffic intersection point. The gang had opened fire on the businessman and fled from the scene," said the officer.

A team had gone to Mussourie on their trail and has been following them since.

The police said the Delhi-based-gang is involved in several cases where they shoot at people before robbing them of cash, mainly at traffic intersection points.

The eight-member police team was in two cars. No policemen were injured.

"The gang of four was fully armed and they managed to escape after opening fire. We refrained from opening more fire as it was a residential area," said the officer.

A case has been registered at the Dwarka police station.