Two arrested after shootout in Shahdara

Two men were arrested after a shootout in Shahdara area on Tuesday morning when they were allegedly on their way to kill a woman and her relative, police said. Taj Mohammad, 21, a resident of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh and Liyakat Ali, 48, from Panipat in Haryana, were asked by their Mumbai-based mentor, a dreaded criminal, to kill the two, they said.

The woman was the criminal's lover and she was staying in Mumbai with him earlier but she came to Delhi after a dispute and started staying with her relative in Shahdara, the police said The man who had allegedly hatched the conspiracy belongs to Uttar Pradesh, they added.

Following a specific tip-off regarding the movement and motive of two active criminals, a trap was laid near the under-construction site of GGSIPU Campus, Vivek Vihar. At about 4.10 am, the accused reached there. They opened fire at the police team which retaliated. An accused received a bullet injury in his left leg during the exchange of fire, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said.

Two firearms, ammunition and a motorcycle stolen from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh were recovered, the officer said. Interrogation revealed that Mohammad had arranged for the firearms and the motorcycle, to execute the plan with the help of his associate, he added.

While Ali was earlier allegedly involved in an attack on a policeman in Meerut, Mohammad is named in various criminal cases and has been booked twice under the Uttar Pradesh Gangster Act, the police said. The woman has not been questioned in the matter yet, they said. PTI AMP

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