Three dead in Delhi court shootout
Dreaded jailed gangster Jitender Maan alias Gogi was shot dead by two armed assailants of a rival gang led by another jailed gangster Sunil alias Tillu Tajpuriya inside the Rohini Court of India's capital Delhi on Friday afternoon.
Members of the Counter Intelligence team of the Special Cell who were with Gogi opened fire at the assailants, killing the two men, who were posing as advocates.
Gogi received five-six bullet injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead.
A few months ago, Gogi’s associate Kuldeep alias Fajja had managed to escape from police custody when he was produced in Karkardooma Court. Since then, a team of Counter Intelligence had been accompanying Gogi and his associates during their court hearings.
On Friday, both Gogi and Sunil Maan, a member of the Tillu gang, had to appear in person in court number 207 in connection with the same murder case.
“A team of the Northern range of Special Cell was accompanying Sunil Maan, who appeared half an hour before Gogi. Around 1.15 pm, Gogi was produced in the courtroom. At that time, two wanted criminals identified as Rahul, a resident of UP’s Baghpat, and Moris of Bakkarwala village, who were inside posing as lawyers, opened fire on him. Gogi received around five to six bullet injuries,” a senior police officer said.
The Counter Intelligence team accompanying Gogi fired in retaliation. “In total, eight rounds were fired by both the teams of the Special Cell. From the Northern Range of Special Cell, Head Constable Kuldeep fired two rounds, HC Sandeep fired four rounds and constable Rohit fired two rounds. A third battalion also fired on the assailants with AK-47. The armed assailants were using .38 bore and .30 bore pistols,” an officer told The Indian Express.
A senior police officer said there was “absolute chaos” inside the courtroom. “Both the attackers died at the spot,” he said. Local police were informed and Gogi was rushed to a nearby hospital, but succumbed to the gunshot wounds.
According to police, Gogi and his rival Sunil alias Tillu have been running extortion rackets in Alipur and Sonipat for years, and the constant strife between the two gangs has often ended in bloodshed. In the last six years, over 10 members of the two gangs have been killed, while many others have barely survived attempts on their life.
A police officer involved with the investigation told The Indian Express that the rivalry between Gogi and Tillu dates back to their college days, when both were students of Delhi University and clashed over student politics. The dispute took a violent turn in 2012, when Gogi and his associates allegedly shot at Vikas, a close confidant of Tillu. In 2015, Tillu was arrested by Sonipat police and put behind bars. Presently, Tillu is lodged in Sonipat jail. While Gogi was looking for a chance to hit back at Tillu, he was also nabbed by the Haryana CIA from Sonipat and handed over to the Delhi Police.
According to police, Gogi was so desperate to kill Tillu that he managed to escape from police custody in 2016 when police personnel were taking him to Haryana court for a court hearing. Gogi later killed all the associates of Tillu and was arrested last year from Gurgaon.
Source: The Indian Express
