Journalism of Courage
Two men, allegedly involved in several incidents of carjacking in Delhi, were arrested early Saturday morning after an exchange of fire from Central Delhi’s Rani Jhansi Road.
Deputy commissioner of police (central district) Shweta Chauhan said: “The accused have been identified as Ishtiyaq (40), a resident of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, and Akil (35), a resident of Muzaffarnagar, also in the UP. The arrest was made based on information about a car theft in the central district,” she said.
Chauhan said acting on the tip-off, the police began a search for the vehicle in the area and located it on the Rani Jhansi Road. “The accused tried to escape with the vehicle and accidentally hit a divider. They then tried to flee by firing gunshots to which the police retaliated and shot Ishtiyaq in the leg,” Chauhan said, adding that both the accused were later overpowered.
Ishtiyaq had earlier stolen a Toyota Fortuner in the Rajinder Nagar area. On October 19, the gang was chased by the police in which a man named Sazid was arrested while Ishtiyaq and Akil escaped. Ishtiyaq used to commit car theft with his brother Israr, who stopped criminal activities due to illness later,” Chauhan said.
The police said Ishtiyaq was previously involved in 32 criminal cases. He was also wanted in two cases in the central district, the police said. Akil too was previously involved in three cases of car thefts, added the police.
One car, two pistols, two key coding tabs, tools used in car theft and three live cartridges were recovered from the accused, the police said.
