Accused in cop murder case killed in encounter

A man wanted for the murder of a Delhi Police constable in Jafrabad last month was gunned down in east Delhi’s Sonia Vihar in an encounter with the cops on Tuesday.

Late on Monday night, it was learnt that Firoz, 28, alias Fauzi, would come to the Sonia Vihar Pusta area to meet an accomplice to plan another crime.

He rode into the police trap on a motorcycle at around 5 am on Tuesday.

The police claimed Fauzi, fired at the police team first, with one bullet hitting Inspector Shiv Kumar, who was wearing a bulletproof jacket, and another striking a car.

“We surrounded him and asked him to stop and surrender. Finding himself trapped, he began firing. We fired back, and he was hit,” said DCP (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav.

He was taken to Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital. He succumbed to his injuries.

No policeman was injured in the encounter.

The Delhi Police Special Cell had been looking for Fauzi following the death of Constable Shivraj Tomar.

On July 14, the constable was headed to office when he noticed two men without helmets speeding through the narrow lanes near Durgapuri Chowk.

Well aware of criminal presence in the area, Tomar chased them.

Fauzi’s accomplice, also going by the same first name but notorious as Billori, managed to escape on the motorcycle, but Tomar caught up with Fauzi, and the duo engaged in a scuffle.

While the policeman was about to pin him down, Fauzi whipped out a pistol and shot at him.

Billori was arrested on August 7 after a brief exchange of fire with the police.

CCTV camera footage of the lanes, through which Fauzi had fled after the constable's death, had pointed to his involvement.

“But Fauzi kept evading the police by hiding in different places in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan,” said Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) S N Shrivastava.

Hailing from Loni in Ghaziabad, Fauzi was wanted in connection with 17 cases, including murder of and attacks on policemen in Delhi and UP.