"The bullet hit the wall of the farmhouse."
Delhi-based criminal Raju Hakla, aged 43, was arrested on Thursday, February 21, 2019, after a brief shootout with police.
Hakla, who also goes by the name Shyam Sunder, has had over 100 cases registered against him. This includes murder, extortion and bank robbery.
He also has cases registered against him under the Arms Act and several others under sections 186, 307, 353 and 411 of the Indian Penal Code.
A Crime Branch team from the Delhi police acted on a tip-off and laid a trap near to the expected location of Hakla.
Deputy Commissioner of police Bhisham Singh stated Hakla was wanted in connection with an attack on Crime Branch officers during a raid in Dwarka, Gujarat on February 2, 2019.
They arrested a suspect named Sunny Dogra after he fired at police officers when asked to surrender. The tip-off about Hakla’s whereabouts came when they interrogated the suspect.
Dogra revealed that the pistol he used to fire at the police officers was given to him by Raju.
They learnt that Hakla would be travelling in a car and driving on the Kapashera Bijwasan road that connects to Dwarka Link road.
Hakla was near a farmhouse in Kapashera town in Delhi. Police surrounded the vehicle and Hakla was instructed to surrender.
Instead of doing so, he attempted to flee and fired at the police.
According to Police Commissioner Rajiv Ranjan, Hakla fired a bullet at Head Constable Brij Lal in a bid to escape when his car was intercepted.
Lal managed to escape unhurt as the bullet missed.
Officers retaliated by firing shots into the air in a bid to distract the wanted criminal. As a result, police were able to overpower and arrest the suspect.
Ranjan said:
“The bullet hit the wall of the farmhouse. In retaliation, constable Dharam Raj fired in the air. The other police personnel then overpowered Raju.
“They also snatched his countrymade pistol.”
In addition, police seized one live cartridge and one fired cartridge at the scene.
Following the arrest, Deputy Commissioner of police Bhisham Singh said:
“Our team laid a trap and intercepted Raju’s car. He was caught after a brief encounter.”
Hakla has carried out approximately 113 criminal offences which have been registered in more than 45 police stations in Delhi.
His arrest has come at a time when there have been reports of an increasing number of firearms used for organised crime.