Rohini court shootout: Assailants had planned to surrender after killing gangster, say sources

Rahul and Jagdeep, who shot dead Jitender Gogi inside the Rohini court and were then killed in police retaliatory fire, had planned to surrender after assassinating the gangster, sources said on Sunday.

On Friday, the duo, dressed as lawyers, entered the courtroom of Judge Gagandeep Singh, and fired upon gangster Gogi, killing him there.

Rahul and Jagdeep alias Jagga were from Gogi's rival gangs, according to the sources.

Police personnel opened fire on the two assailants in retaliation as the lives of people in the courtroom and court complex were in danger, police said.

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In a late-night development on Saturday, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police arrested two persons — Umang Yadav and Vinay — in connection with the Rohini court incident.

The sources said that the accused reached the court in a car at 10 am on Friday and the initial plan was that four persons, dressed as lawyers, would go inside the court, kill Gogi and then surrender before a judge.

However, one of them was wearing a black jeans and because of this, Yadav and the person who was wearing the black jeans did not go inside the court, the sources said, adding that Rahul and Jagdeep went through with the plan.

Efforts are on to apprehend the person in the black jeans and his identity is yet to be revealed, they said.

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Yadav and Vinay were arrested from a flat in northwest Delhi's Haiderpur area and it belonged to the former, police said.

Gogi was a rival of Tillu, another gangster, and according to police, their gangs have been at war for many years.

Tillu, Sunil Rathee and Naveen Bali, all chiefs of different criminal gangs, are behind this incident, the sources said, adding that they are all in jail.

The person who was wearing the black jeans was sent by Bali. Rahul was an associate of Rathee and Jagdeep an associate of Tillu, they said.

The sources said that on September 15, Yadav received a call from Tillu that two persons will come to him on September 20.

Yadav was instructed that he will arrange accommodation for them, they said.

Those behind the incident already had the information that Gogi will be produced at the Rohini court on September 24 (Friday), the sources said.

On Friday, they were informed that one more person will join them around 10 am outside the court. This person was the one wearing black jeans, they said.

The Delhi Police's Special Cell has in custody Yadav, while Vinay's custody was given to the Prashant Vihar police station around 3 am on Sunday, the sources said.

Police said they will try to take into remand Tillu, Rathee and Bali, who are all in jail, to interrogate them regarding the incident. The Special Cell has recovered a pistol from Yadav which Tillu gave him around five to six months ago.

The source of the weapon has been traced to Tillu and investigation will reveal the other details, they said.

On Sunday, Gogi's postmortem was conducted at the Maulana Azad Medical College, police said, adding that the postmortem of Rahul and Jagdeep will be conducted on Monday, most likely in the same hospital.

According to an FIR registered in connection with the Rohini court shootout, Sub-Inspector Vir Singh, who was part of the security team engaged in the exchange of fire, in his statement said several innocent people could have lost their lives if there was no immediate retaliation against the two assailants.

Singh said that since the duo were firing indiscriminately, and it was not possible for the police team to nab them "physically", especially when the judge, court staff and advocates were inside the courtroom, and anyone could have died.

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