Eight days after two friends were shot dead within a distance of 600 metres and in 15 minutes of each other in north-east Delhi’s Dayalpur, the police have arrested three persons and claimed that the twin murder was a result of a personal and property dispute, officials privy to the development said on Monday.
Three illegal firearms, a car and a motorcycle that were used in the murders have been seized along with 11 cartridges from the arrested persons identified as Javed alias Chickna (38), Sahabjaan (27) and Jaan Saif Ali (22).
The arrested accused are residents of north-east Delhi.
The arrested persons along with their associate, who is still absconding, had fired around 10 rounds at the two separate spots and killed their rivals, Farookh Pehalwan (45) and Abdul Hamid (47) in Munga Nagar and Nehru Vihar on September 12. The incident, which had occurred at night, had triggered panic among local residents. Pehalwan and Hamid had sustained four fatal gunshot injuries each.
The murders had left Delhi Police baffled as around the same time another person, Sonu Rana, was shot dead near a traffic signal in outer Delhi’s Swaroop Nagar.
The three men, who had killed Rana, had also fired around half a dozen rounds of bullets of which four had hit the victim.
A fourth shooting and murder incident took place the following day on September 13 when three motorcycle-borne men had opened fire at a car, killing the lone man on the driver’s seat at a traffic signal near Hasanpur bus depot in east Delhi.
In the twin murder case, the police said that two separate first information reports (FIRSs) were filed at the Dayalpur police station and multiple teams were constituted to probe the incident and nab the killers. During the probe, the role of Chikna and his associates emerged but all of them were absconding, said MA Rizwi, additional deputy commissioner of police (north-east), Delhi Police.
On Saturday, a probe team received the information that the suspects would leave the city in a car. The registration number of the car was also shared with the police.
Acting on the tip-off, a trap was laid and the three suspects – Chickna, Sahabjaan, and Ali Saif – were arrested on Sunday and the car was also seized. The three confessed to their crime and disclosed their fourth associate’s name. Though raids were conducted, the associate is yet to be arrested.
During the interrogation, an investigator, who did not want to be named, said Chickna and Sahabjaan revealed that they had an enmity with Pehalwan because he was opposed to Sahabjaan’s bid to marry one of his distant relatives. Pehalwan and Hamid often humiliated Chickna and Sahabjaan over the wedding plan.
“There was a near fatal attack on Chickna around a week before he and his associates killed Pehalwan and Hamid. Chickna suspected that the attack was orchestrated by the slain duo. Pehalwan’s brother Suleman had assaulted Chickna in a Delhi jail some months ago. Chickna took the revenge by killing Pehalwan and his friend Hamid,” said the officer.
Chickna also had a property dispute with Hamid, he added.
Pehalwan was a fruit and vegetable vendor at Okhla Mandi, while Hamid was into property business. Hamid was shot dead in his office in Nehru Vihar.
Pehalwan was at his friend’s factory in Munga Nagar when he was killed, the police said.
