Belonging to 'family of criminals', Fauzi liked to take on policemen

Firoz alias Fauzi, killed by police on Tuesday early morning, had been an accomplice of Anwar Thakur, a murder convict from whose home in east Delhi, four pistols and over a hundred bullets were recovered on Independence Day.

Their association is under investigation still, said a police officer of Special Cell involved in the encounter.

“Fauzi sure had worked with Thakur for sometime in the past. It is too early to say more on their association,” said the officer. The arms had been recovered from Thakur’s home after his wife called police to inform she was thrashed by him.

On his own, Fauzi belongs to a family of criminals. His parents are into drug trafficking. One of his two brothers is lodged at a Ghaziabad jail while another is a thief, police said.

Apart from the murderous assault on the Delhi Police constable, Fauzi is alleged to be involved in at least two other cases of attacks on policemen in Ghaziabad.

In the first case, he fired at a police team that had gone to arrest him at his residence in Loni in February.

He escaped that time only to be involved in yet another confrontation with police on June 9.
“He was stopped for a routine check when the number plate of his Swift Dzire was found to be covered with mud. He fired at the team from inside the car and managed to escape,” said the officer.

If people refused to pay him protection money, they were allegedly met with bullets.

One such victim was Mohd Shahid, a local television journalist in Loni. Shahid’s brother owned a medical shop in Loni but refused to shell out the protection money. Shahid was allegedly shot at by Fauzi in a bid to instill fear in him and others, said police.

Fauzi allegedly indulged in several robberies and dacoity, said police. In February, he and his accomplices left a man injured for resisting their bid to rob him of Rs 9.5 lakh. In mid-July, they robbed a hotel owner in Ghaziabad.

The hotel owner and his wife were hit in the alleged indiscriminate firing they indulged in while fleeing.