A 44-year-old man opened fire at a flyover near Nand Nagri in northeast Delhi on Tuesday morning, killing a policeman and injuring a passerby, and then attempted to flee the spot in an autorickshaw, before he died by suicide while seated in the three-wheeler, police officers said, adding that prima facie, the incident was triggered by a financial dispute between the suspect and the policeman.
The indiscriminate gunfire on the Ashok Nagar-Meet Nagar flyover — police estimate that at least 10 rounds were fired — triggered panic on the busy stretch that connects Wazirabad with Ghaziabad, with many fearing that a terrorist attack was underway. The incident also led to traffic snarls, as many motorists took cover at first, and then gathered around the scene of the crime to try and understand what had happened.
Police identified the suspect by his first name Mukesh, a sanitation worker with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Officers said he had borrowed money from the policeman, identified as assistant sub-inspector Dinesh Sharma, 56. Amit Kumar, 30, who was riding his e-scooter at the time, was shot in the waist and is currently recuperating at AIIMS, police said.
“Our preliminary investigation has revealed that there was a financial dispute between the policeman and the sanitation worker. Mukesh had borrowed ₹5 lakh from Sharma some years ago and was supposed to pay ₹25,000 as an instalment today (Tuesday). We have reason to believe that something happened between the two over the payment, which led to Mukesh arranging for a firearm,” an investigator associated with the case said, on condition of anonymity.
Sharma was in civilian clothes at the time of the incident, police said.
How events unfolded
Deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Joy Tirkey said the police control room received a phone call about shots being fired on the Ashok Nagar-Meet Nagar flyover at 11.42am.
Sharing the sequence of events, as pieced together via CCTV footage and testimony of witnesses, a second investigator said that Mukesh is first seen standing near one end of the flyover, and soon afterwards, Sharma is seen arriving at the spot in his motorcycle. Mukesh then hops on to the bike, and Sharma drives for around 200 metres on the flyover, before stopping to the side.
“We don’t know what exactly prompted Sharma to stop the bike. It is assumed that an altercation started between them, during which Mukesh got down from the bike, whipped out a gun, and opened indiscriminate fire. Sharma was hit at least twice in his chest and died,” the second investigator said.
Right at that time, police said, Kumar was passing by on his e-scooter when a stray bullet hit him in the waist. In his police complaint, Kumar said he somehow managed to drive to the other end of the flyover, before collapsing in pain and falling off his two-wheeler.
Autorickshaw driver Mehmood Khan, 35, was also on the flyover at the time and police said that Mukesh sat into his vehicle. Khan saw that he had a gun pointed at him, and jumped out of his three-wheeler, and though Mukesh tried to shoot him, the auto driver escaped unhurt.
“We also recorded the statement of the auto driver, who stated that when he stopped his vehicle on the flyover, the attacker forcibly entered his vehicle, pointed a gun at him and threatened to kill him if he did not drive him away. Khan drove the auto to the other end of the flyover, where another gathering of people was present near Kumar. As Mukesh looked outside to see if he was dead, the driver jumped off and though Mukesh fired a bullet at him, Khan escaped unhurt. After finding himself trapped, Mukesh panicked and shot himself in the head. He died in the auto,” the second investigator said.
DCP Tirkey said that soon afterwards, the police team arrived at the scene and rushed Mukesh, Sharma, and Kumar to Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) hospital, where Mukesh and Sharma were declared brought dead. The bodies were preserved at the hospital’s mortuary, where the autopsy will be conducted on Wednesday, the police said.
Police said Kumar underwent surgery at GTB hospital and was later referred to AIIMS for better treatment. His condition was stated to be out of danger, they said.
Families speak
Speaking to the media at the GTB hospital mortuary, Sharma’s son Anshu said that he was at home when police informed him about his father’s death. Anshu then informed other family members, and they all rushed to the hospital.
Sharma, who was posted in the special branch (intelligence unit), is survived by four children. One of his daughters is a head constable in the city police. She is posted in the communication unit, officers said.
Meanwhile Mukesh’s wife, Meenu alias Meena, 37, who also goes by one name, said her husband lived with another woman, but visited her twice a month. “I don’t know about his financial dealings with the policeman, who had never visited my house,” she said.
A relative of Mukesh’s partner, who was taken into custody for questioning, said Sharma often visited her house to collect money. “I don’t know what kind of money dealings he had with her or Mukesh,” the relative said.
