Ayisha Falaq shot two men who had kidnapped her brother-in-law from Delhi.
A national-level shooter, 33-year-old Ayisha Falaq, has been handling guns for the last six years. But last week, she took up her licensed revolver for the first time to counter crime after her 21-year-old brother-in-law Asif Falaq, was abducted. Ms Falaq, the police said, fired two bullets at two men - one bullet grazed a man, another man was shot in the foot.
Mr Falaq, who works part time as a taxi driver, had gone to Dariyaganj on Thursday night to pick up two men, who had booked his cab online to visit Shastri Nagar. But after getting into the cab around 10 pm, they overpowered him and took him away to a village, Bhopra, near the Haryana border. Then, within an hour, they called the family and demanded Rs 25,000 as ransom.
When Ms Falaq's husband, Falaq Sher Alam, got the call, they alerted the police, but the couple also decided to go to the spot.
With a police vehicle on their tail, Ms Falaq and her husband reached the kidnappers. It was decided that she would be the one handing over the money. The rendezvous point was near the village at post-midnight.
Ms Falaq, who won gold in 2015, carried her .32 bore licensed revolver with her.
"They had started suspecting that we had the police with us," said Ms Falaq. As soon as her husband parked his car parallel to theirs, they started shouting 'kill them', she said. "They came out of the car and it was then that I shot them at their feet," she said.
Ms Falaq said she teaches self defence to girls. "So I often teach these techniques and I was not scared," she added.
The police arrested the two men from the spot, who were later identified as Mohammad Rafi and Akash.
"It is a very brave effort. It was past midnight and since she is a national-level shooter, her aim was real good," said police spokesman and senior officer Ravinder Yadav.