4 held for Metro station shooting

Victims estranged wife, her second husband hired goons to kill him

Four persons have been arrested over last week’s shooting at Mayur Vihar Phase-I Metro station in which a 45-year-old man was killed, police said on Saturday.

Shibu alias Shiv Prasad, a resident of Tilak Marg, was shot in the back on the staircase leading to the station on February 4 and subsequently succumbed to injuries at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital in Kalyanpuri on Thursday.

The attack was planned by Shibu’s estranged wife Anju, 29, and her second husband Deepak, 22. They had hired two contract killers Sanjeev, 28, and Rahul, 20, to kill him, said Prabhakar, deputy commissioner of police (east).

“Anju had run away with Deepak in August 2011 after Shibu forced her into prostitution.

The elopement, however, gave them only a temporary reprieve. They knew that Shibu, who had a criminal background, would not let them live a peaceful life,” Prabhakar added.

According to the plan, Deepak lured Shibu to the station saying he would get to see his estranged wife and son.

“Shibu fell into the trap and agreed to come to the station on February 4. Deepak, Rahul and Sanjeev reached the station in a Tata Indica car. Sanjeev was carrying a country made weapon, while Rahul had  two country made weapons as backup,” Prabhakar said.

Shibu was later shot by Sanjeev, after which the trio fled from the spot in their car. Their plot was, however, unearthed when Shibu was hospitalised and died after four days.

“Shibu alleged in his statement that he was attacked at the instance of Anju and Deepak,” Prabhakar said. Several police teams were formed to ascertain the identity and location of the persons who were in contact with the couple. Police then interviewed over 40 persons to get a clue about the incident. “During the investigation, our team stumbled across Sanjeev who appeared to be a suspect,” Prabhakar added.

When interrogated Sanjeev confessed to have committed the crime along with Rahul for an amount of Rs 2 lakh from Anju and Deepak.

“We subsequently arrested Anju, Deepak and Rahul from their hideouts in Sagarpur and Dichaon Enclave,” Prabhakar said.

The interrogation of the four suspects revealed that Shibu was a repeat offender and had forced Anju to marry him when she was 14-year-old in 1996.

“Shibu had abducted Anju’s brother Vinod and severely assaulted him. He said that Vinod would be released from his custody only when Anju agreed to marry him. Anju’s family were left with no option, and agreed to Shibu’s demand,” Prabhakar said. But Vinod succumbed to injuries inflicted by Shibu.

 Anju was also continuously subjected to emotional and physical abuse by Shibu. He had a bad temper which became worse when he was drunk. Shibu then forced Anju into prostitution. That is how she met Deepak in May 2011. Deepak was moved by Anju’s story and fell in love with her.

“Deepak and Anju after fours months of courtship ran away in August 2011 and stayed at Anju’s parental home at Dichaon Enclave,” Prabhakar added.

The police have recovered two country-made weapons of .315 bore, Rs 75,000 in cash that formed part of the contract, and a mobile phone used for communication between the accused persons.