A woman in her 40s was shot at in Saket court complex in south Delhi on Friday morning, allegedly by a suspended lawyer who had filed a cheating case against her, police said.
The woman, identified as M Radha, suffered bullet injuries in her abdomen and a hand, and was rushed to a hospital where she was recuperating, while the accused Kamashwas Prasad Singh fled from the scene. The incident took place at around 10:30 am.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chandan Chowdhary said the accused had lodged a case against her and her advocate Rajendra Jha, and the case was scheduled for hearing on Friday. The accused allegedly opened four to five times before fleeing from the scene through the back entry of the canteen in the court complex.
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The accused lawyer, who was earlier suspended by the Saket Court Bar Association, had alleged that he had loaned Rs 25 lakh on interest to the woman and she was defaulting on repayment.
Earlier in 2021, a jailed gangster Jitendra Gogi was shot dead by two men posing as lawyers inside a courtroom in Rohini Court complex.
However, Singh, who had fled on a Scooty, was arrested from Haryana's Faridabad.
Special Commissioner (Crime) Ravindra Singh Yadav said two teams had searched his residence in south Delhi's Chattarpur but he was not found there. Technical surveillance indicated that he was in Surya Nagar in Faridabad where a team was sent, which spotted the two-wheeler and Singh was arrested.
During the initial interrogation, Yadav claimed, Singh told them that he had given the loan to Radha on "exorbitant monthly interest" but she did not pay a single penny to him. He had a case registered against Radha, who got conditional bail from Delhi High Court.
"He asked her to return the money but she bluntly refused to return his money. He further claimed that he warned her that if she did not return the money, he would kill her in the court in front of everyone present," Yadav said.
On Friday, he said, Singh confronted Radha when she came to attend a matter in court and asked for money. When she refused, he took the licenced revolver of his private security guard Ajay and allegedly fired four rounds.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed that the law and order situation in the national capital has completely broken down. Police and law and order is under the central government in the national capital.
"The law and order situation in Delhi has completely broken down. Instead of obstructing the work of others and doing dirty politics on everything, everyone should focus on their own work. If one cannot handle it, they should resign and let someone else take care of it. The safety of the people cannot be left to God's will," he said,
AAP demanded a probe into the incident with Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj attacking Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena. "The L-G has only two jobs -- Police and DDA. After the arrival of the new L-G sir, the law and order situation in Delhi is getting worse. Guns are being fired in courts. The police are involved in Rs 350-crore corruption," he tweeted.
Addressing a press conference, Bhardwaj said, "if a place is secure in the country, it is the courts. There were several rounds of firing in a court. What is the police doing? A lawyer was recently killed at Dwarka. Elderly people are being killed, while mobile phone and chain-snatching incidents are taking place. Vehicles are being stolen from posh areas. Even if a crime is captured on CCTV, police are unable to catch the culprits."
Demanding that the L-G take moral responsibility for the "deteriorating" law-and-order situation in the capital, he said the L-G goes to a DJB sewer treatment plant to take stock of the ongoing work, but he does not go to a police station or the Saket court complex to review the situation.
"When will the L-G get himself clicked at a police station? A woman was dragged (by a car) in Kanjhawala, but he did not go there. He should have taken reporters there too. You are roaming from drain to drain, but not going to a police station. L-G sahab has not done any work that will make one say that the law and order situation is improving. He should take moral responsibility for this," he said.