Rajouri Garden Murder: Three gangsters, including two shooters allegedly behind the food joint murder in west Delhi's Rajouri Garden last month, were shot dead on Friday, news agency PTI reported, citing officials. The officials said that the Haryana Police and the Delhi Crime Branch in Sonipat carried out a joint operation.


They said Sub-Inspector Amit of the Crime Branch sustained injuries in the operation. The Delhi Police Crime Branch team was led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Umesh Bharatwal under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Amit Goel.


DCP West, Sonipat, Narinder Singh told PTI that a Haryana Police Special Task Force (STF) member was also injured. Another police official from Sonipat said the encounter took place on Chhinoli Road in Kharkhoda.


According to the police, the gangsters gunned down in the operation were identified as Ashish alias Lalu, Sunny Kharar, and Vicky Ridhana, PTI reported. They also stated that all three killed in the encounter were members of the Himanshu Bhau gang.


They said Ashish and Ridhana were the ones who shot 26-year-old Aman Joon dead at a Rajouri Garden Burger King outlet on June 18.


Joon, a native of Haryana, was attacked when he was seated with a woman at the eatery. The woman had allegedly 'honey trapped' him. She is currently at large.


Bijender, an associate of the two shooters, was arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell in Rohini on June 28. He had taken Ashish and Ridhana to the outlet on his motorcycle.


Kharar, along with Ashish and Ridhana, was allegedly involved in a shooting outside a vehicle showroom in Hisar days after Joon's murder.


Crime Branch And Haryana Police STF Were Tipped Off


A senior Delhi Police officer said the Crime Branch and the Haryana Police STF were tipped off about the trio hiding in Kharkhoda village.


When a joint team reached the spot, the gangsters opened fire at the police personnel, injuring the sub-inspector, he said, adding that SI Amit sustained a bullet wound in his thigh.


As the police team retaliated, a gunfight ensued and the three gangsters suffered critical injuries, the officer said, adding that they were declared dead later at a city hospital. He said the Himanshu Bhau gang has been extorting lakhs of rupees from businessmen in Haryana and Delhi. The joint force seized five pistols from the encounter site, the officer added.


According to PTI, the killing at the Burger King outlet in Delhi's Rajouri Garden was seen as part of an ongoing gang war between jailed gangsters Neeraj Bawana and Ashok Pradhan.


The responsibility for the murder was claimed by Fugitive Spain-based gangster Himanshu Bhau in a social media post. He is a close aide of Bawana.


Bhau had said that his gang had avenged the killing of Bawana's cousin Shakti Singh in October 2020. Joon is believed to have passed on information regarding Shakti Singh's whereabouts to Pradhan, police had said.