E-Paper
Man who stabbed constable killed in encounter in Delhi
New Delhi: A day after a 28-year-old Delhi Police constable was stabbed to death in Govindpuri area, the alleged main suspect in the case was shot dead in an encounter with a police team in Sangam Vihar, officers aware of the matter said on Sunday
New Delhi: A day after a 28-year-old Delhi Police constable was stabbed to death in Govindpuri area, the alleged main suspect in the case was shot dead in an encounter with a police team in Sangam Vihar, officers aware of the matter said on Sunday. Two other suspects in the case were arrested on Saturday.
Police identified the dead suspect as Raghav alias Rocky, 20. (He went by first name).
The officers said that the encounter began around 11.50pm after an investigating team comprising five officers cornered Rocky in near Karni Singh Shooting Range on MB Road.
Deputy commissioner of Police (southeast) Ravi Kumar Singh said that during investigation it was found that Rocky was hiding near Sangam Vihar, and a police team reached the area around 11.30pm. As soon as he spotted the police team, Rocky tried to flee the spot. To stop the police from pursuing him, he opened fire with a pistol at the police. The DCP said Rocky fired fire rounds at the police team.
“The police personnel asked the suspect to surrender for questioning. But Rocky opened fire at the police with a .32 bore pistol, firing five rounds,” said DCP Singh.
The police retaliated and fired fiverounds at Rocky. The suspect was hit in the chest and his face. He was taken to ESIC Hospital, Okhla, where doctors declared him dead on arrival, the DCP said. One bullet fired by Rocky hit sub-inspector Adesh Kumar’s bullet proof jacket.
He added that the pistol used by Rocky and a two live bullet rounds were recovered from the spot. A total of 10 rounds were fired during the encounter from the two sides, he added.
The post-mortem on Rocky’s body will be conducted by a board of doctors on Monday, an investigator said.
Since it was early morning, the area was deserted, he added.
Officers quoted above said constables Kiranpal Singh, Banai Singh and Sunil Kumar were deployed on patrol duty at a police booth near Arya Samaj Mandi, Govindpuri on Friday night. At 4:45am on Saturday, Kumar stepped out of the booth for some work. Banai also stepped away from the booth. When Sunil returned after 20 minutes, he found Kiranpal missing and calls to his phone were not returned.
Sunil informed his senior officers, following which a search party was constituted. The search team found Kiranpal lying unconscious with multiple stab wounds near Sant Ravidas Marg, nearly 3 kilometres away from the police booth. He was taken to the nearby Majeediya hospital, but he had already succumbed to his wounds by the time they reached the hospital, the officers said.
A statement by the Delhi Police special cell on Saturday said, “Kiranpal had been fatally attacked while on duty and accordingly, a criminal case was registered under the relevant sections of law.”
A Crime Branch team was constituted to investigate the murder. It was found that three people were involved in the constable’s murder. The investigators found that the three suspects were going a bike when Kiranpal signalled them to stop on Sant Ravidas Marg. When the suspects did not slow down, the constable tried to stand in the way to stop them. Enraged over this, the suspects got off the bike and stabbed Kiranpal at least twice in his stomach and chest, an investigator said.
After Kiranpal collapsed to the ground, the three fled on the bike, the officers said.
The crime branch investigators identified the suspects through CCTV footage and the registration number of the bike as Deepak Singh (20), Krish Gupta (18) and Raghav alias Rocky.
The police arrested Deepak and Krish on Saturday from an apartment in Kalkaji after a brief exchange of fire. Deepak fired three rounds at the police personnel, who retaliated with an equal number of bullets. Deepak was shot in the leg and subsequently arrested from the spot. Rocky, however, managed to escape.
During questioning, the two suspects told the police that they had gone drinking and were returning home when Kiranpal asked them to stop.
During further probe, the police came to know that Rocky lived in D-block, Sangam Vihar. They added that the knife used in the murder allegedly belonged to Rocky.
Rocky’s family members could not be reached for a comment.
The officers said that Rocky was a 20-year-old school drop out, and that they were checking his criminal record.
The officer said that Rocky worked part-time as a helper with an events company. His father is a truck driver and he has two sisters, the elder one works a a beauty parlour and younger sister studies in Class 11. Police said the family didn’t know about the murder and thought Rocky and his friends were out of town.
The officer said that Rocky had procured the knife some time back and used it to “threaten” locals residents .
After allegedly killing the constable, Rocky was hiding in the forested area in Sangam Vihar, he said. Police said they were yet to recover the knife used in the murder.
