The Hindu : New Delhi News : 5 gangsters gunned down

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 07, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

5 gangsters gunned down

Staff Reporter

One manages to escape; encounter took place at Sonia Vihar

NEW DELHI: Five gangsters involved in over 70 cases of robbery and murder in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal were gunned down in an encounter with the Special Cell of the Delhi police at Sonia Vihar in North-East Delhi on Friday night. One of their accomplices managed to escape. Six firearms and a grenade were recovered from their possession.

According to Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Karnal Singh, for the past three months a team had been trying to locate the gangster, Ayub, and his accomplices.

While he carried a reward of Rs. 10,000 on his head, his accomplice Aslam carried a reward of Rs. 20,000.

Acting on a tip-off that he along with other members of the gang would come to North-East Delhi in a white Tata Sumo bearing an Uttar Pradesh registration number, a team laid a siege near Yamuna Pushta at Sonia Vihar.

Around 10-45 p.m., the police spotted the vehicle and signalled the driver to stop. Realising that they had been intercepted, the suspects alighted from the vehicle and tried to flee on foot, firing at the policemen.

In retaliatory action, five of the accused sustained injuries, while the sixth fled taking advantage of the darkness. The injured, four of who were identified as Ayub, Aslam, Manoj and Sanjay, were rushed to Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital where they were declared brought dead. Two 9 mm pistol, a .32 bore revolver, two .32 bore pistols and a country-made firearm were recovered from them.

Mr. Singh said Ayub-Aslam gang used to target houses in isolated areas. The criminals would hire vehicles for the purpose and gain entry into houses by posing as policemen or Central Bureau of Investigation officials. Then they would rob the occupants of cash and jewellery at gun-point. "After conducting a thorough search of the house for three to four hours, they would take one of the family members along with them to make sure that the others did not raise an alarm. They would later set the captive free," he said, adding that at times the criminals forced their victims to withdraw money from their ATM accounts.

In 2004, Ayub along with his accomplices committed as many as 15 robberies in the trans-Yamuna area of Delhi. However, he along with 22 others were arrested and sent behind bars.

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