Crime / 35-year-old man shot dead in Delhi, killer takes photo of body before escaping

New Delhi: A closed-circuit TV (CCTV) footage of the murder of a 35-year-old man near Nawada Housing Complex at Uttam Nagar in south-west Delhi last week, is doing the rounds on social media, where the alleged killer is seen taking a photograph of his victim on his cellphone, seconds after pumping at least three bullets into him.

In the 18-second video clip, the alleged killer -- in a yellow T-shirt and a white towel wrapped around his face-- is first seen chasing a man with a gun in his hand.

Soon, they reach a lane, where a CCTV camera is installed. The suspect fires a bullet at the man, who is walking backwards with a red helmet in his arm while looking at his attacker.

The bullet pierces the man’s left eye and he falls on the ground. The suspect walks back, only to return and pump at least two more bullets in his victim’s right eye and forehead.

Then, the alleged killer takes out a cellphone from his trouser’s pocket and takes the bleeding victim’s photograph before fleeing the crime scene, the footage showed.

On Tuesday, Delhi Police arrested the father of the alleged killer in connection with the murder case. However, the prime suspect is still at large.

The arrested man has been identified as Pawan Gahlot (44), a resident of Nawada village. His absconding son has been identified as Kamal Gahlot.

Pawan had allegedly planned the killing of Vikas Mehta, a criminal, who operated under the jurisdiction of Mohan Garden police station, in a bid to avenge the murder of his brother, Praveen alias Golu, who was allegedly killed by Vikas Dalal, a member of Pradeep Solanki’s gang, last year, the police said.

“Mehta was an aide of Dalal and also a member of Solanki’s gang. Dalal was also killed in a police encounter last year. Pawan suspected that Mehta was also involved in his brother’s murder conspiracy. He wanted to take revenge for his brother’s death,” said RP Meena, additional deputy commissioner (ADC), Dwarka, Delhi Police.

On October 22, the police said, Mehta was loafing around with one of his aides, Puneet Yadav, at a road near Nawada Housing Complex, when Pawan approached them, asking them to go to his office to resolve their differences. They went to Pawan’s office and stayed there for nearly half an hour.

“Pawan saw it as an opportunity to kill Mehta. He informed Kamal about Mehta’s presence using his employee’s cellphone. Kamal arrived immediately and opened fire at Mehta, and killed him on the spot. Kamal had fired eight bullets, five of which hit Mehta,” said an official probing the case, requesting anonymity.

Officials said multiple teams are conducting raids to nab Kamal and recover the firearm he allegedly used in Mehta’s murder.