Sharpshooter of Neetu Daboda gang nabbed after gunfight

New Delhi: A team of Delhi Police Special Cell on Sunday arrested 40-year-old Vinod, a sharpshooter of the Neetu Daboda gang, after he was injured during a brief exchange of fire in the paper market in east Delhi's Ghazipur.

Police said he was wanted in an attempt to abduct a businessman from Agra for a ransom of Rs 10 crore.

A semi-automatic pistol of .32 calibre and six live cartridges were recovered from Vinod at the spot, in addition to a bike stolen from the jurisdiction of Vijay Nagar police station in Ghaziabad.

Meanwhile, his associate Ashok Pradhan escaped the spot, taking advantage of the dark.

A team of Special Cell led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Attar Singh led the operation.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Kumar Kushwaha on Sunday said that during the encounter, more than a dozen rounds were fired, with cops firing six of them in self-defense. Eight empty shells were recovered from the spot.

"Vinod was previously involved in more than a dozen cases of murder, attempt to murder, dacoity, robbery, assault intimidation, theft in Delhi, Haryana and UP," the DCP said.

Regarding the encounter, he added that a tip-off was received that Vinod and Pradhan would come on a bike to the paper market in Ghazipur between 4 and 4.30 am on Sunday to meet a contact.

"On positive identification by the informer, the road was immediately blocked with the help of police vehicles. Both were asked to surrender, but they started firing on members of the police team. Two bullets hit the bulletproof jackets worn by sub-inspector Hardwari Lal and head constable Mohit," Kushwaha said.

He added that the police team fired in self-defence and one of the bullets hit Vinod, who was immediately overpowered and rushed to hospital.

Cops added that Vinod revealed that he had been lodged in Rohtak jail in 2001 in a case. During this time, Pradhan and Daboda were lodged in the same jail where he came into contact with them and joined their gang.

After coming out from jail, Vinod and other associates committed several kidnapping for ransom and extorted money.