Sonepat encounter: Sharpshooters were aides of gangster Himanshu
Mukesh Tandon
Sonepat, July 13
The three notorious gangsters, who were killed in a joint operation of the Haryana STF and the Delhi Police at Kharkhoda, were wanted in Delhi and Haryana in several criminal cases.
Involved in murders, firings
- The three gangsters was allegedly involved in the killing of liquor trader Sunder Malik in Murthal on March 10
- They were also involved in two murder cases in Sonepat and Hisar. Two of them were accused of murder at an eatery in Rajouri Garden in Delhi on June 20
- They were also allegedly involved in the firing incident at a shop in Gohana on January 21 and for demanding a ransom of Rs 2 crore
- They also allegedly fired outside a showroom in Hisar and demanded a ransom of Rs 5 crore from its owner and INLD leader Ram Bhagat Gupta on June 24
The three gangsters — Vikas, alias Vicky, of Ridhana village of Sonepat, Ashish, alias Lalu, of Kharia village and Sunny of Kharar village in Hisar — were the sharpshooters of gangster Himanshu Bhau, who is running his gang from abroad.
As many as 20 criminal cases were registered against Ashish and the Haryana Police had announced Rs 1.5 lakh reward on him. Sunny faced six criminal cases and had Rs 1 lakh reward on him. Vikas had three criminal cases registered against him and Rs 1 lakh reward on his arrest.
The police seized five automatic pistols of .32 bore, 24 live cartridges and a KIA car from the encounter spot.
The police said a team of Delhi Police, led by DCP, Crime, Amit Goyal and ACP, Crime, Umesh Badathwal were chasing the three sharpshooters, who entered Sonepat. A team of Haryana STF, led by Inspector Yogender, was already present on Chhinauli road. The joint team tried to nab them, but the trio started firing on the police team and ran in the fields.
In retaliation, the team also opened fire on them and they sustained injuries. The team rushed them to the hospital where the doctors declared them dead. The bodies were handed over to their relatives after a postmortem at BPS Medical College in Khanpur Kalan, said a police official.
