A 36-year-old cab driver was pulled out of his car, assaulted, and shot dead by a group of men after his vehicle hit an e-rickshaw at a traffic signal near the Red Fort on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, police officers aware of the matter said.
Deputy commissioner of police (north) Manoj Kumar Meena said that the deceased was identified as Mohammed Saquib Khan, a resident of Zakir Nagar. A 15-year-old homeless boy who was present at the scene also sustained a gunshot wound and is undergoing treatment at Lok Nayak Hospital, Meena said.
According to police, the suspects involved in Khan’s assault and murder were passersby and were not affected by the accident. Officers said they are probing whether the death was the outcome of a quarrel that followed the accident. They are also looking at a robbery angle since the victim’s wallet and mobile phone are yet to be found.
The e-rickshaw driver was not involved in the quarrel or the assault, the officers noted.
Giving details of the case, officers said that the police were informed about two people being brought to Lok Nayak Hospital at 1.50am with gunshot wounds. When a police team arrived at the hospital, they learned that Khan had succumbed to his injuries.
“We learned that around 12am, Khan was driving a passenger in his Maruti WagonR towards Kashmere Gate when he rammed an e-rickshaw at a traffic signal near Red Fort. An altercation ensued, and Khan was dragged out of the vehicle,” Meena said, adding that the cab driver was then beaten up by three people.
Khan’s younger brother Mohammed Shariq Khan, 34, said that police showed the CCTV footage to the family, in which his brother is purportedly assaulted for 10 minutes.
During the scuffle, police said, Khan’s passenger left the spot.
Meena said that, meanwhile, a crowd started gathering near the traffic signal, and allegedly expressed support for Khan as he was being beaten up.
The cab driver then managed to catch hold of one of his assailants. “In the ensuing melee, another assailant pulled out a firearm and shot Khan,” the DCP said, adding that a homeless boy present at the spot was also shot and injured.
The DCP said investigators have obtained and analysed CCTV footage of the incident. “We have the CCTV footage and their faces are visible. Multiple teams are working to nab them,” he said.
Police said that, so far, it appears that Khan and the suspects did not know each other, but the case will only get clearer after the suspects are caught.
