New Delhi: Two men, believed to be criminals, were killed on Thursday by the police in a tense encounter in north-east Delhi's Khajuri Khas area, during which the alleged criminals had purportedly threatened to blow up the building they were stationed in.
Two policemen have also been injured in the incident and are recovering.
Police identified the accused as Aamir and Rajman, saying they were natives of Loni and were shot dead in a joint operation by the North East and Rohini district police forces. "They had threatened to blow up the building where they were living in a room. At that time, 15 families were residing there," one police officer said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-East) Sanjay Kumar Sain said on the intervening night of August 11-12, station house officer (SHO) Khajuri Khas received information from SHO (Begumpur) about the presence of two gangsters, who were carrying heavy firearms and ammunitions and were hiding in the area of Shri Ram Colony.
A joint team from Begumpur and Khajuri Khas soon started searching the area for the criminals. "The owner of the house confirmed to us the presence of two persons in a room on the second floor of the building. We were informed that the accused were carrying heavy arms and explosives," he said.
The police first knocked on the door of the room, which was locked from inside, and criminals were asked to open up. But the two criminals threatened the police party instead. They went on to say they would kill themselves and everyone else.
The police secretly looked through a window to ascertain the identities of the accused and their weapons, when the accused spotted them and allegedly opened fire — leading to the gunfight. A family living in the adjoining room had to be pulled out by the police.
In the crossfire, two constables Sachin Khokar and Kalik Tomar received bullet injuries.
Both Aamir and Rajman were allegedly involved in 11 criminal cases.