# Cities

Shooter and mastermind behind South West Delhi firing held

The main shooters and the mastermind in the September 27 luxury car showroom firing in South West Delhi’s Naraina area were nabbed by the Delhi Police on Thursday.

Statesman Web | October 3, 2024 4:30 pm

Shooter and mastermind behind South West Delhi firing held

The main shooters and the mastermind in the September 27 luxury car showroom firing in South West Delhi’s Naraina area were nabbed by the Delhi Police on Thursday.

Deepak, an international kick-boxing player who is the mastermind of the firing, was arrested from Rohtak, Haryana by a crime branch team while the shooter, identified as Armaan, was arrested from Outer Delhi’s Majra Dabas area by a special cell team of the Delhi Police after an encounter, it added.

According to the police, acting on a tipoff about the whereabouts of the suspected shooter, the team was dispatched to the area. On reaching there, the team spotted the suspect and asked him to stop. But he opened fire at the police party in a bid to escape. The police team fired back as a result of which the suspect received an injury on his leg. Soon after, he was arrested.

Armaan was one of the three suspects who had opened fire in the showroom and on the parked cars and TV screens. A semi-automatic pistol and a motorcycle were recovered from his possession. A case has been registered against him at the police station of the special cell.

In another development, the mastermind who plotted the incident, Deepak, was also arrested.

Deepak, who runs a kickboxing coaching center in Rohtak, said the motive behind the firing was to teach the car showroom owner a lesson for declining to oblige to their extortion demand. Hence, he, along with his three associates, gathered at Rohtak the previous day and arranged weapons.

The next day, they reached the spot, opened fire, and left behind a handwritten note to threaten the owner.

According to the police, Deepak did not enter the showroom though he carried out a recce of the area. After the incident, he fled to Punjab and returned to Rohtak, it added. The police are searching for his other two associates.

After the incident, Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj and MLA Durgesh Pathak visited the area and raised questions about the law and order situation in the capital city.