Four men fire at cops near Connaught Place, arrested

New Delhi: Four men were arrested on Thursday for opening fire at policemen near Shivaji Stadium in the high-security Lutyens’ Delhi, said police.

Refusing to pay for the cigarettes, a group of men got involved in a feud with the vendor, which soon turned ugly. To contain the issue, a team of policemen from Connaught Place (CP) was sent to the spot.

“The accused were returning to Uttam Nagar after having dinner at a restaurant in CP in their Ertiga car when they came to the Shivaji Stadium bus terminal to buy cigarettes. When the owner of the kiosk asked for money, one of the six men brandished a pistol and pointed the butt towards him. A man standing at the kiosk quickly ran towards the police picket,” said a senior police officer.

“We have arrested four persons after a brief encounter. The arrested accused has been identified as Aman Bhatia (25), Punit Bhatia (25), Sahil Verma (25) and Kamal (23),” said a senior police official.

When the cops reached the spot and ordered the accused, Aman Bhatia, to surrender, he refused and opened fire at him. Following this, a Delhi police team exchanged fire with Aman and the other members of his group. The accused also tried to flee the spot but was soon nabbed.

Police said that the incident took place at around 11 pm when a passerby informed one of the inspectors about a quarrel outside Shivaji Stadium.

A team led by SHO Pankaj Malik reached the place and found that one Aman Bhatia, who was recently released from the jail in a murder case, was pointing his country made a pistol to the kiosk owner.

The DCP said, “We have also recovered a country made pistol with two live cartridges from the possession of Aman Bhatia, who is found to be previously involved in a murder case.  During the investigation, we found that this gang of criminals is also wanted in another case of a shootout in Connaught Place area about one month back.” The police added that they are making efforts to arrest the other accused.