NEW DELHI: A criminal carrying a reward of Rs 25,000 on his head was arrested by the
Delhi Police's special cell after a brief exchange of fire on Thursday, officials said. The accused,
Vikas Shaukeen
, a resident of Najafgarh, is alleged to be an active member of the Raju Basodi gang, they said.
According to police, Shaukeen was evading arrest since March in an attempt to
murder case registered at the Patel Nagar police station in
Central Delhi
wherein he along with his associates had fired upon one Kunal Mongia, his father Ravi Mongia and a beat police officer.
One of his associates, Gaurav Kakkar, has already been arrested, the police said.
Shaukeen had also threatened Mongia and his father to withdraw the case. The complainant had a monetary dispute with another party, who had approached the accused to settle scores, they said.
Shaukeen was arrested after police received information that he would be coming to Najafgarh via Dwarka to meet an associate, they said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said a trap was laid at the Dhulsiras-Dwarka road. Around 5.45pm, the accused was seen coming on a two-wheeler and was signalled to stop but he tried to speed away.
He was chased by policemen. His vehicle slipped and instead of surrendering he whipped out a firearm and opened fire at the police party, the officer said.
"The police party retaliated in self-defence and Shaukeen was hit in his left leg. He was immediately overpowered by the team," he added.
The accused was taken to the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital for treatment, Yadav said.