Murder bid inside Delhi court, 10 held

An alleged attempt by a notorious gang to eliminate a jailed member of a rival group inside the Rohini District Court on Wednesday morning was foiled when 10 people were arrested and six firearms recovered from them, the police said.

The gang had planned to shoot dead Pradeep, said to be a close associate of Neetu Dabodia, the alleged gang leader who was killed in a police encounter last year. 

Pradeep, currently lodged at Rohini Jail, was to appear at the court for a hearing on Wednesday morning for the alleged murder of a member of Neeraj Bawana-Naveen Baali gang.

Naveen and Neeraj gangs have been at loggerheads with each other for years. Problems cropped up when Naveen’s brother Rahul was recently arrested and sent to Rohini Jail for the recent murder of two brothers in a road rage incident at Bawana. The police said that Naveen Baali, lodged at Nemka Jail in Faridabad, had sensed danger to his brother from Pradeep. 

“He used two of his associates to arrange for weapons and do a recce of the Rohini court complex. Plans were to shoot Pradeep anywhere possible, including inside the court room,” said a senior police officer of the Delhi Police’s Special Cell that averted the alleged bid.

The gang had planned to enable the entry of the assassin inside the court room and had arranged for an advocate’s attire for him. However, the police claimed they got a whiff of the conspiracy and began their own preparations. They filed an FIR and then deployed policemen at strategic locations in the court complex. For Naveen’s gang, things went fine till their arrival at the court complex. 

“The criminals arrived at the court in three different cars from different routes. But before they could strike, 10 of them were swiftly apprehended and six sophisticated pistols were recovered from them between 10:30 am and 11 am,” said the officer.

The gang-member who was given the task of killing Pradeep was dressed in advocate’s attire. He was recognised by a policeman who managed to pin him down. The assassin, Vikas Dabas, 23, is said to have recently joined the gang and was earlier booked for avoiding “checking and frisking”.