The Hindu : New Delhi News : Gang chief gunned down

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 16, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Gang chief gunned down

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, OCT. 15. Suleman alias Sulla, the leader of a notorious gang of robbers allegedly involved in over two dozen cases of robbery and murder reported in the Capital in the past five years, was killed in an encounter with the Special Staff of the South Delhi police today. The police said he had committed more than half-a-dozen robberies only in the past couple of months after jumping parole earlier this year.

According to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), Praveer Ranjan, the Special Staff had been entrusted with the job of tracing out Suleman, who was suspected to have been involved in robberies reported from South and West Delhi earlier this month.

The Special Staff, led by Inspector Rajender Singh, received a tip-off that Suleman was likely to come to South Delhi in a grey coloured Santro car. Around 10-30 a.m., the team deployed on Faridabad border in South Delhi spotted the car and began trailing it. When the car reached near Bandh Road at Aya Nagar in Mehrauli, the police team tried to intercept the car of the suspects. Sensing something amiss, the driver of the car stopped the vehicle and ran into the nearby forests, while Suleman, who was sitting in the car, began firing at the police team which returned the fire. After the firing stopped, he was rushed to All India Institute of Medical Sciences where he was declared dead upon arrival.

Meanwhile, the police recovered a country-made revolver, an Italian gun, some live cartridges and Rs. 25,000 in cash from the Santro car which had been stolen from Prashant Vihar in North-West Delhi on September 3.

The police said Suleman had been arrested in a robbery-cum-murder case reported from Punjabi Bagh in West Delhi in which Rs. 10 lakhs were robbed from the victim in 2000. However, after being granted parole on July 14 to attend the funeral of his son, Suleman jumped parole and reorganised his gang.

Investigations revealed that Suleman, along with his gang, had robbed Abdul Qayyum of Rs. 85,000 on August 13 and then one Sulabh Jain of Rs. 32,000 on September 6 from Gokulpuri in North-East Delhi. On September 9, he robbed a Maruti car in Rohini and committed a robbery of Rs. 3 lakhs in Saraswati Vihar.

Again on September 25, he robbed another man of Rs. 50,000 in Punjabi Bagh. On October 6, he robbed a person of Rs. 3 lakhs at Modi flyover in South Delhi. A day later, he committed another robbery of Rs. 3.2 lakhs in Paschim Vihar, West Delhi.

Earlier, Suleman, who grew up in the slums of Rajender Nagar and Mongolpuri completed his higher secondary and enrolled in Rajdhani College for graduation. However, he came in contact with Rajesh Rathi, a notorious criminal from North-West Delhi, and began indulging in heinous crimes. He was involved in encounters with the police three times.

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