New Delhi: The Delhi Police suspects that the conspiracy for the killing of a man in a Rajouri Garden food outlet was hatched by fugitive gangster Himanshu Bhau to avenge the murder of a relative of jailed gangster Neeraj Bawana.
On Tuesday, Aman Joon, 26, hailing from Haryana's Jhajjar, was shot several times in a Burger King outlet in Rajouri Garden's J Block.
The killing is now being seen as a consequence of an ongoing war between jailed gangsters Neeraj Bawana and Ashok Pradhan.
Joon was shot dead late evening by two men while he was sitting at the fast food outlet with a woman, who is now suspected to have reeled him in at the behest of the Spain-based gangster Himanshu Bhau.
Police suspect that one more man, who was standing outside the food joint on his bike, was involved in the murder.
According to a senior police officer, the Bhau-Bawana gang used the woman, in her 20s, to call Joon at the food joint.
He said police have recovered CCTV footage in which Joon is seen entering the eatery where the woman was already waiting.
Minutes after he sat there, two men came and sprayed him with bullets, firing at least 38 rounds, and left him dead right there before fleeing, the officer said.
The woman who came to meet Joon also fled, possibly with his mobile phone, he said.
According to another police officer, it is believed that Joon had given a tip-off to Ashok Pradhan about the presence of Bawana's cousin Shakti Singh in Jhajjar in October 2020.
The attackers had been looking for an opportunity to call Joon somewhere far off his village to avenge Shakti Singh's killing, the officer said.
Hours after the murder, a social media post emerged in which fugitive gangster Bhau took the responsibility of the attack, the officer said.
The post said the gang had avenged the killing of 'Shakti Dada' who was eliminated allegedly by a rival gang.
The post also mentioned the names of gangsters Naveen Bali, Neeraj Bawana, Kala Kharampur, and Neeraj Faridpur. The killings will continue, it also said.
The post also read 'Bhau Gang since 2020' and '14 ke badle 40 goli di hain ginti kar lo' (gave 40 bullets against your 14, you can count), the officer said. Police are verifying the authenticity of the social media post.
The Bhau gang, which operates in Delhi and Haryana, is notorious for making extortion bids, the officer said.
Himanshu Bhau, an associate of jailed gangster Neeraj Bawana, had fled to Portugal in 2022, and has since been running the gang from there, according to police.
In 2003, a red-corner notice was issued against him by the Interpol. In May this year, the Delhi Police booked him and his gang members under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, or MCOCA, for running a syndicate of extortion and giving threats to businessmen.
Police have identified the woman, who is facing cases in Haryana.
She once lived in a PG in Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar to prepare for competitive exams.
A team of the Crime Branch visited her PG on Wednesday.
According to CCTV footage retrieved from metro stations, the woman took a train from GTB Nagar Metro Station to reach Rajouri Garden. After the murder, she again took the metro from Rajouri Garden and deboarded at Shakurpur Metro Station, the officer said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vichitra Veer said several teams have been formed to work out the technical as well as manual intelligence to identify the assailants.
Till Wednesday morning, the identity of the victim was a mystery since police could find no identity papers on him, nor his phone. When they checked his body, police found a bus ticket and a phone charger in his pockets.
To establish his identity his photo was circulated across several state's police, and at length, he was identified as Aman Joon of Jhajjar, the officer said .
His brother has identified his body, the officer said.