A 21-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday for his alleged involvement in the murder of a 32-year-old criminal who was shot dead near Kherki Daula toll Plaza on Tuesday, said police.
Police identified the deceased as Manoj Ojha, accused in 16 criminal cases including murder, extortion registered against him at various police stations in Delhi. He was also convicted in two of the cases and had come out of jail on bail in June last year.
According to police, his death was the fallout of an internal dispute with his two associates. The arrested accused is identified as Lokesh, from Delhi’s Patparganj. He worked as a cab driver in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad. The prime accused, Tanish, was still on the run.
Police said, Ojha was travelling to Delhi from Manesar in his Bolero on the expressway when he approached a para-medical team in an ambulance at Kherki Daula toll plaza on Tuesday evening and asked them to take him to a hospital citing that he was shot by a someone five kilometres back. Ojha was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.
Police said that while being rushed to the hospital, Ojha had sent a voice note over WhatsApp to his brother Tony, 35, informing that Tanish had shot him. Tony rang Ojha immediately when the ambulance driver responded to the call to inform him that they were rushing him to hospital.
Sandeep Turan, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said that after arrest, Lokesh told police that he along with Ojha and Tanish had travelled to Hisar on Tuesday to kill a person but they had to return after failing in their attempt.
“This incident resulted in a dispute between Ojha and Tanish. The three had stopped along the expressway near Manesar when Tanish shot Ojha in the abdomen. The duo fled after which Ojha managed to reach Kherki Daula and sought help,” he said.
Turan said that crime branch teams are carrying out raids to arrest Tanish.
“To execute their plan, the trio were carrying two pistols, four magazines and 26 live cartridges which were recovered from Ojha’s Bolero in the course of investigation after his death,” he said.
On Tony’s complaint, an FIR under Section 103(1) (murder) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Arms Act was registered against the suspects at Kherki Daula police station on Tuesday.