Two men linked to the murder of a local trader and multiple fraud cases involving foreign currency were arrested by Noida Police after a shootout near Elevated Road in Sector 54 on Saturday, officers said, adding that the two accused were injured in the incident. Two other accused, including the kingpin, were arrested later from Ghaziabad and Delhi.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Yamuna Prasad said the encounter occurred during a routine police check when two suspects on a motorcycle refused to stop and opened fire. “While a team from Sector 24 police station was conducting routine checking near Elevated Road, Sector 54, two suspects on a motorcycle failed to stop when signalled by the police and instead opened fire on our team in an attempt to escape. ‘In self-defence, officers fired back, injuring both suspects who were subsequently overpowered and taken into custody,’ said Prasad.
The injured men—Mukul Sharma, 25, of Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, and Akash Upadhyay, 24, of Noida—were taken to a hospital for treatment, police said. Officers recovered a stolen motorcycle, a .32-bore pistol, a country-made .315-bore pistol, live cartridges, two mobile phones, and two bags containing fraudulently acquired Canadian and UAE currency worth approximately ₹10.3 lakh from the two.
Police said the suspects confessed during interrogation to killing Ompal Bhati, a 40-year-old currency trader from Sector 94, Noida, on Wednesday. They lured him to a rented property in Sector 12 under the pretext of exchanging Canadian dollars and shot him when a scuffle broke out. A murder case had been filed at Sector 24 police station.
The suspects’ modus operandi involved paying small deposits to rent properties and using them as bait to rob currency dealers, officers aware of the case said. Police also arrested Mukul’s father, Ajay Kumar Sharma, alias Ajju, 48, from Vasundhara — described as the mastermind — and an accomplice, Aryan Yadav, 25, from Morna bus stand in Delhi subsequently after the arrest of Sharma and Upadhyay. The accused were also involved in a May 14 incident in Vasundhara, Indirapuram, where 8,000 UAE Dirhams were stolen in a similar fraud, they added.
Police recovered ₹4 lakh in cash, 9,900 Canadian dollars (worth approx. ₹6.27 lakh), 30 UAE Dirhams ( ₹703), clothing worn during the crime, and two pistols with ammunition from the two. Police confirmed both injured suspects have prior criminal records in Noida and Ghaziabad under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Arms Act, officers said.