Behind double murder in Najafgarh salon, ‘revenge plot’ for leaking info to police

A senior police officer said, “The accused persons, Sanjeev Dahiya alias Sanju and Harsh alias Chintu… came on a two-wheeler to the salon where the victims, Ashish and Sonu, were getting a haircut and shot them in front of the employees.”

Purported CCTV footage of the incident, which surfaced on social media, shows one of the victims, Ashish, pleading with the attacker, Harsh, before he was shot in the head at point-blank range. An employee opens a door, comes out, sees the man, and runs back inside.

According to officers, Harsh was recently released on bail from Tihar jail. Police sources said Dahiya is a lawyer with the Delhi High Court and his father is an ASI of Delhi Police in Dwarka.

Said an officer, “Harsh is the brother of jailed gangster Yogesh alias Tunda… the latter is among those accused of killing gangster Tillu Tajpuriya. Ashish had sheltered a few of Harsh’s associates, who were also members of Tunda’s gang, a few months ago. However, they were arrested by police within a few days.”

The officer added that Harsh felt Ashish had leaked information regarding his associates to police, which in turn led to their arrest. “He (Harsh) then hatched a plan and held a meeting with few of his associates, including Dahiya, two days before the murder, where they planned the killing,” he said.

Officers added that they are also probing whether the murder was over a social media post that Ashish put up, which might have triggered Harsh.

On Friday, the accused got a tip-off from an informer that Ashish and Sonu were at a salon in Indra Park, and rushed to the spot. “We are also ascertaining if the deceased persons have links to any rival gang members,” said another officer.

Ashish has two previous criminal cases against him, added police.

Currently, teams of the Crime Branch and Special Cell, along with district police, are on the lookout for the accused and have increased deployment around Delhi-NCR borders.