Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 16 (IANS) Hunting for the culprits behind four shootouts in south Delhi that killed four people last week, Delhi Police Wednesday announced a collective reward of Rs.250,000 for their arrest and said the same gang was involved in all incidents. Baffled by the rise in shooting incidents in the past one month, Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal announced a reward of Rs.50,000 each for the five suspects - identified as Om Prakash alias Bunty, 30, Rajesh Sharma alias Pinni, 28, Nasir alias Zakir, 28, and Mohammed Israel, 28 and Shivam alias Kalu.

Police also released their pictures.

“We are conducting raids at several places and the accused would be arrested soon,” Dadwal told reporters.

Earlier in the day, the south Delhi district police separately declared a reward of Rs.25,000 for any information leading to the arrests of the accused.

Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said police had enough evidence showing involvement of the same gang in at least four recent shooting incidents.

The gang first struck July 5, when they gunned down a property dealer Sonu, 25, outside his Sangam Vihar residence. Bunty, who is an accused in at least 27 cases of robbery and theft, was Sonu’s business partner.

It was only last year that he had come out on bail. Police officials said he and his accomplices killed Sonu over a property dispute.

“Bunty is a psychopath. But he hails from a very well-off family, which reported him missing five months ago at the Sangam Vihar police station. The family wanted to distance themselves from his criminal activities,” a senior police official told IANS on condition of anonymity.

The police said the gang first killed two friends - Ashneet Singh, 24, and Harjeet Singh, 26 - at Amar Colony, near Lajpat Nagar on Friday.

The assailants, joined by two others from the spot, fled on the bike of the two victims there but barely a few minutes later they shot dead Sanjeev Suri, 30, near the Andrews Ganj crossing in Defence Colony area when one of the stolen bikes ran out of fuel.

The gang first tried to snatch the motorbike from Suri, who was waiting at the traffic signal. But when Suri protested, the assailants shot him dead at point-blank range.

According to police, the same members of the ‘Bunty gang’ Saturday shot Naresh and Pawan, both around 30, in south Delhi’s Dakshinpuri area.

Asked about the motive behind the murders, Bhagat said: “Investigations are at initial stages and right now we cannot comment on the motive behind the murders and attempt to murders.”

However, some investigating police officials ruled out robbery as motive and said personal enmity could be the reason behind the shootings.