New Delhi, Nov 21 || Delhi Police arrested a sharpshooter of the infamous Tillu Tajpuriya Gang which was involved in a case of firing on a businessman's vehicle in Rohini, an official said on Sunday.
According to the official, on April 8, the victim, who owns factories in Delhi's Bawana and Haryana's Sonipat, had received a WhatsApp call and thereafter a voice message on his phone regarding extortion. The caller introduced himself as Chiku, a dreaded criminal from the inter-state gang.
In an incident that seemed ripped from a Bollywood potboiler, the criminal demanded Rs 1 crore as extortion money from the complainant and otherwise threatened to kill him by "firing 100 rounds on him".
When the businessman contacted the police, a case under section 387 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at the North Rohini police station.
When the police interrogated the accused, Chiku alias Himmat, who was already behind the bars, and recovered a cell phone from his possession.
Again, on August 23, a gunmen fired at the victim's car while he was at home. Total five rounds were fired and a threat letter seeking money was left behind by the criminals.
According to the police, the letter read, "You have three days left. You will receive a call which will inform you the location where you have to bring the money. If you say no, it will cost you your life."
The police immediately swung into action and registered another FIR against the accused under sections 307, 387, 34 of the IPC and section 25 and 27 of the Arms Act.
"Keeping in mind the gravity of the case and the involvement of the dreaded gang, the investigation was transferred to a special staff in Rohini, Delhi," the official said.
However, after the special staff team tried hard but were unable to reach any conclusion, took Chiku into police remand to unearth the conspiracy and arrest the remaining accused.
The team interrogated Chiku for 2 days after which he broke down and disclosed the name of the other shooters and a conspirator.
Following this, the special staff arrested the sharpshooter identified as Aakash Khatri, a resident of Delhi and three others -- Jayant Mann, a college friend of Sunil alias Tillu, Rahul, who arranged a sim card for the threat calls and provided OTP number received on the said sim to Chiku for activating a WhatsApp account in jail, and Ravi Parasar, who worked at the victim's factory and passed over his mobile number to his gang members.
During their arrest, the police recovered .32 Automatic Star Pistol loaded with four live rounds, .30 Automatic Pistol loaded with four live rounds, a revolver loaded with three live rounds, a country-made pistol with two live rounds and a sim card used to carry out the extortion.