Double murder accused held after gunfight: Police

The Ghaziabad police on Saturday arrested an alleged gangster after a gunfight in a Tronica City colony with the apprehended man turning out to be involved in a double murder-cum-dacoity committed early this month. The apprehended man was identified as Ajay alias Amreesh Banwariya, involved in killing a trader and his neighbor's son and injuring one other for resisting a dacoity by six persons, said Superintendent of Police (Rural) Neeraj Kumar Jadaun.

Ajay was admitted to a local hospital for treatment of his gunshot injuries, he said. Jadaun said on a tip-off that some "criminals" were holed up in an abandoned house at Ansal City in Tronika City area, a police team cordoned the area and asked them to surrender.

This prompted one of the gangsters to fire upon the police team, forcing the team to return the fire in which Ajay suffered a gunshot injury in his leg, while three of his accomplices fled the house through its rare door. The SP said the police arrested Ajay, who later confessed to being involved in the double murder-cum-dacoity committed on the night intervening August 4 and 5 when the house of a provision store owner Dharmavir Sharma in Pooja Colony under Tronica City police station area was looted.

As Sharma and his 17-year-old son Sudhir resisted the dacoits, they fired upon Sharma, who suffered bullet injuries in his chest and died on the spot, said Jadaun. As the dacoits were fleeing with the booty, Sharma's neighbor Sudhir Verma and his two sons, Sonu and Babu, chased the criminals and caught hold of one of them, prompting one of them to open fire at Verma and his sons.

In the shootout, Verma's both sons sustained bullet injuries, leading to one of them, Sonu, succumbing to his injuries before he could be taken to hospital, said the SP.