Three men have been arrested for allegedly hatching a plot to open fire inside a courtroom at east Delhi’s Karkardooma Court Complex in which a Delhi Police head constable was killed and three others were injured last month.
The Metropolitan Magistrate also had a close shave as one of the bullets scraped past his chair and hit a wall.
The incident occurred while Metropolitan Magistrate’s courtroom number 73 was in progress on December 23.
The four armed assailants, all juveniles, were overpowered at the spot with a pistol, a revolver, and two country-made pistols.
“Head constable Ram Kanwar Meena was escorting undertrial prisoner Chanu Pehelwan alias Irfan, a criminal from north east Delhi’s Seelampur, for a court hearing,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) B S Gurjar.
Irfan had been in judicial custody and was to give a statement in the courtroom.
As soon as the constable entered the courtroom with Irfan, the four assailants opened fire.
Ram sustained five gunshot wounds and succumbed to his injuries at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital.
During interrogation, the juveniles told police that they fired at the instance of Abdul Nasir, 28, Shahrukh, 22, and Shiv Shakti, 38.
They were in judicial custody for involvement in cases registered with Delhi Police.
“They have been arrested for questioning,” Gurjar added.
Abdul told police that he had enmity with Irfan and planned to kill him.
They conspired to get Irfan killed by Shahrukh’s juvenile brother, who also has criminal history.
“The recovered weapon were supplied by Abdul’s accomplice identified as Asim. Asim also helped the juveniles conduct a recce,” Gurjar said.
Before the incident, Asim took three of the juveniles in a Honda City car to Jaipur to plan the attack.
On the day of the incident, he also took all the juveniles from Karkardooma Court Complex’s main gate to courtroom number 73.
“Asim conducted a recce of the court along with the juveniles a week before the incident. He also helped them in firing practice,” Gurjar added.
Asim is absconding, and raids are being conducted to nab him.
Abdul, a resident of Jafrabad, is involved in a murder case of a man named Haji Matin and 10 other cases.
Shahrukh is involved in a murder case and another case of Arms Act, while Shiv is involved in four cases.