New Delhi: A 35-year-old man was shot five times outside a roadside eatery in the Modinagar area on Thursday night. The man was out on bail in a case of extortion.
After being hurt, the man was bleeding heavily, but he still managed to drive himself to a hospital, which was more than 25 kilometres away. The victim was Rahul Chaudhary, and he is a resident of Raj Nagar. As per police information, the man underwent surgery and remains critical.
Investigation findings
Modinagar ACP Bhaskar Verma said that they have recovered a 49-second CCTV footage from the spot. In the footage its visible that two men were standing near a scooter outside Swagat Dhaba in the Seekri Kalan area near NH-58. The victim arrived in his Scorpio around 9:30 pm. The area seems busy around that time with several cars passing by, as per CCTV footage.
One of the men opens the car door beside the driver’s seat. In the video, a third man wearing a black shirt and blue jeans can be seen approaching the car about 20 seconds later and opening fire at Chaudhary. Rahul was sitting in the driving seat, as per the information shared by the ACP. After shooting the man walked away calmly and the other two also left on the scooter.
Chaudhary sustained injuries to the neck, chest, abdomen and leg but still managed to drive to Yashoda Hospital in Sanjay Nagar. Later, hospital staff called the police and reported the incident. They told police that he drove through the main gate, then stepped out of the vehicle and called for help before collapsing.
He underwent an emergency operation and was later moved to the intensive care unit. As per the initial investigation, he had gone to the daba to collect Rs 75,000.
Chaudhary’s wife filed an FIR
Chaudhary’s wife, Karishma, revealed that her husband received a call from two of his acquaintances named Vinay Vashishth and Arvind Saini were asking him to meet. She said that the two men asked him to meet at Vashishth’s residence, but Rahul declined, citing the narrow road. Then they decided to meet at Swagat Dhabha, and he left home around 7 pm.
Karshima alleged that the conspiracy against his husband was done by Jalbeer Pandit, Ravi Valmiki, and Peetam Soni. She said that Pandit had planned a similar attack on her husband earlier, a case related to which is already registered at Niwari police station.
She added that after 15 minutes of talking, when he was about to leave the site where the incident took place, Saini opened the door and asked, ‘Bhaiya, when will you come again?’ Just then, Vashishth, Saini and Ashwani Chauhan, along with some unknown person, opened fire at him.
Raul Chaudhary’s criminal history
As per police information, Chaudhary himself is an accused in 18 cases on charges which include murder, attempt to murder and extortion. The cases are registered at multiple police stations across Ghaziabad, including Modinagar, Bhojpur and Niwari. He has already been acquitted in seven cases but was arrested just six months ago in an extortion case. He had come out on bail just two months before this attack.
Based on his wife’s complaint, police registered an FIR under BNS sections 109 (attempt to murder) and 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) against all the accused. Police have formed five teams to arrest all as they are still scanning CCTV footage from surrounding areas and gathering more information to trace all involved.