The second shooter, who was at large after reportedly killing a 34-year-old gym owner in South Delhi’s GK-1, was apprehended early Thursday after a brief confrontation on the Mathura highway, Delhi Police said. He was shot in the left leg during the shootout, according to reports.
Police said the accused, 26-year-old Yogesh aka Raju, is a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi and Hashim Baba gangs. Yogesh was expected at the Mathura Refinery between 4 and 5 a.m. on October 17. Yogesh, the driver, was identified and ordered to pull over and surrender. However, he began unprovoked firing,” DCP (Special Cell) Manoj C stated.
The accused was shot in response, resulting in an 11-round exchange between the police and Yogesh. “Yogesh fired five bullets at the police and was shot six times, resulting in a wound to his left leg. “He was taken to Mathura’s Civil Hospital and then arrested,” the DCP added.
Nadir Shah, an Afghan national, was shot dead outside his gym in GK-1 on September 12 night. While seven of the suspects — Akash Yadav, Nitalesh Tiwari, Vishal Verma, Naveen Baliyan, Mohammed Sajid, Pankaj Kumar, and Sachin Yadav — were eventually apprehended, the shooters, Madhur aka Mota Armaan and Raju, have remained at large.
Yogesh was a persistent offender who had already been imprisoned in 2018 for fatally stabbing a youngster in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj, according to officers. He came to Delhi in 2022, having been released on bail.
“He began working with Cheenu Pehelwan’s gang, Hashim Baba’s main opponent. He left the gang due to compensation concerns and joined Baba in 2023,” a police officer stated. Yogesh has been named in five FIRs, four in Uttar Pradesh and the GK-1 case in Delhi.
According to authorities, the investigation has so far led to supposed Bishnoi links to Shah’s murder. According to authorities, the Bishnoi gang was unhappy with Shah’s association with a Dubai-based businessman and had attacked him in August as well.
“Shah and his pal ran a call center. Bishnoi wanted Rs 5 crore from the businessman, who then approached Shah to bail him out. Shah had become a police informant after 2018, and he attempted to bargain with Bishnoi. However, Bishnoi threatened Shah, telling him to remain out of the situation or face the repercussions. As punishment, he boosted his ransom demand from the businessman to Rs 25 crore, according to a police official familiar with the case.