In Big Breakthrough, Cops Arrest Main Shooter In Delhi Gym Owner's Murder

Achieving a major breakthrough, the Delhi Police has arrested the man who had shot a gym owner in south Delhi's upscale Greater Kailash area last month. The man, who is believed to be associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi and Hashim Baba gangs, was arrested after a shootout.

Police said they had received a tip-off that Madhur alias Mota Arman, who was the main shooter in the killing of Nadir Shah, would be in the Narela Industries area in north Delhi on Saturday. A team laid a trap for him and when he arrived in the area on a motorcycle around 9 pm and was asked to stop, he opened fire.

The police fired back and some bullets hit Madhur, who is undergoing treatment at a hospital. A pistol and 12 cartridges were recovered from the spot.

"In this shootout, Madhur sustained bullet injuries in his right knee and left ankle. A bullet fired by him hit Sub-Inspector Adesh Kumar, who was wearing a bulletproof jacket," an official was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. 

CCTV footage of the September 12 shooting had shown Madhur, wearing a checked shirt, opening fire at Shah in Greater Kailash-1. An associate who was with Shah managed to duck but the gym owner was shot six to eight times and died at a hospital.

Police had later said that Shah, who is of Afghan origin, had come in the crosshairs of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang because he had asked his business partner not to pay Rs 5 crore that the outfit had tried to extort from him.

Shah was allegedly also friends with south Delhi gangsters Ravi Gangwal and Rohit Chaudhary, who were enemies of Hashim Baba, a northeast Delhi gangster. Sources said Rohit Godara, a key member of the Bishnoi gang - who has claimed responsibility for Shah's murder - used this enmity to rope in Hashim Baba in his plan to kill the gym owner.

Hashim Baba brought in Randeep, a gangster from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, who is currently in the US. Baba, who is lodged in Tihar Jail, also roped in his jailmate Sameer Baba, a gangster who was once threatened by Shah. 

At least four arrests had been made in the case earlier.