New Delhi: An alleged sharpshooter of the Ashok Pardhan-Neetu Dabodhiya gang has been arrested for allegedly opening fire at a seer in Delhi’s Najafgarh area, a Delhi Police official on Tuesday.
The accused has been Sikander alias Rohit, 27, a resident of Nangloi.
According to police, the incident took place after sant Akash Nath did not invite Sushil Dass, who also proclaims himself to be a sant of the Nath community, to a bhandara. While Nath escaped unhurt, one of his devotees was injured after he was hit by the bullet.
“Last year on February 13, Nath had organised a ‘bhandara’ in a temple at Rana Ji Enclave, Najafgarh and invited all the nearby sants of the Nath community. Dass, a resident of Baprola village, also proclaimed to be a sant of the Nath community, was not invited to the bhandara due to which he was not happy,” said the official.
Sikander, along with Dass and others, had reached the temple and started arguing with Nath.
“During the heated arguments, one Pradeep and Sikander took out pistols. Pradeep fired at Nath, but he narrowly escaped and one of his devotees sustained bullet injury. Thereafter, all the accused ran away. Pradeep has been convicted in a murder of a Delhi Police constable in 2011 in Ranhola where the constable was killed over a land dispute,” said the official.
“Police received a tip-off regarding Sikander following which a raid was conducted and he was intercepted in a car near Chhawla drain by a police team and nabbed,” said a senior police official.
Sikender on March 22, 2017, along with his associates Ashok Pradhan, Lalit Rathi and others shot dead Kala Aasodia in police custody in the court complex in Haryana’s Jhajjar in retaliation of killing of Ashok Pradhan’s brother by Kala Aasodia. He was previously involved in three cases registered in Haryana and Delhi.
“Ashok Pradhan and Sikander were planning to kill rival gangster Neeraj Bawania and his associates, who are lodged in different jails, while they were to be produced in courts in order to take revenge for the killing of their associates by the rival gang members,” said the official.
(IANS)
