Panipat: Three youth shooters identified as Ashish alias Lalu (27) resident of village Kharia in Hisar district having nearly 20 cases registered against him, Sunny Gurjar resident of village Kharar Alipur in Hisar district (26) having nearly 15 cases registered against him and Vicky Ridhana (27) resident of Gohana having nearly 15 cases registered against him were members of the Himanshu Bhau gang and were wanted by the Delhi and Haryana police with rewards of Rs 1 lakh each allegedly shooting for ransom demand were involved in several extortion cases some of recent include behind the shooting at a Burger King outlet in the Capital last month, firing at a sweets shop Maturan Halwai in Gohana, killing a liquor merchant Sunder outside Gulshan Dhaba at Murthal and a recent case of firing, killing at the owner of Mahindra Automobile showroom in Hisar demanding Rs 5 crore ransom.
The accused were being chased by RK Puram crime branch police after they injured a police officer, and on the information of STF were surrounded by Sonipat police near Chhinoli bypass in Kharkhoda when they started firing at Haryana police which during encounter gunned down three shooters in a joint operation by the Haryana Police Special Task Force and the Delhi Police Crime Branch near Kharkhoda in Haryana’s Sonipat district on Friday late night. Police said a sub-inspector was also injured in the incident. According to a Delhi police officer, Ashish and Vicky were involved in the shootout at the Burger King outlet in Delhi’s Rajouri Garden area on June 18 in which Aman Joon (26) hailing from Chhochhi village in Haryana’s Jhajjar was killed.
Gangster Himanshu Bhau (21) presently operating his gangster network from Portugal had claimed responsibility, saying the murder was revenge for the victim’s role in the killing of one of his associates. Information reveals that Bhau is on the list of most-wanted gangsters, his syndicate allegedly operates in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab. Sources reveal that Delhi Police had received a tip-off that the suspects were on their way to Sonipat on Friday night, acting on this information a team led by Umesh Barthwal ACP left Delhi sharing the information with the Haryana STF, which tracked the vehicle in which sharp shooters were travelling at around 8.15 pm near Kharkhoda in Sonipat district, signalled them to stop but the trio in the vehicle started firing on the police when DCP Goel was saved due to wearing bullet-proof jacket, but Sub-Inspector Amit Kumar who was also shot at suffered a bullet injury on his leg.
All the three suspects received bullet injuries on their chests and head when over two dozen rounds of bullets were fired. All the victims were taken to the Kharkhoda civil hospital in Sonipat, where they were declared brought dead. Police officer received a bullet injury on his right leg and was hospitalised. Five weapons were recovered from inside the trio’s vehicle. Past history of the shooters revealed that Ashish was involved in 18 cases including murder, attempt to murder, dacoity and robbery. Sunny was involved in several cases of murder, attempted to murder and firing. Information also revealed that Vicky and Ashish were also allegedly involved in the murder of a liquor trader Sunder Malik was shot dead at Murthal on March 10 this year.
