Inspired by movie, man tries to murder property dealer

A 38-year-old man, identified by the police as Deepak Sharma, was arrested and a juvenile apprehended from Brahmpuri area of northeast Delhi on Wednesday for allegedly attempting to murder a property dealer. The two accused, inspired by 2015 Bollywood thriller Drishyam, took great care to ensure their crime remained hidden, but revealed all details of the attempted murder during their interrogation.

“The efforts they had taken to conceal the alleged crime involved buying a new motorcycle to shoot the victim dead, changing modes of transport and switching off their mobile phones,” said deputy commissioner of police (northeast) A.K. Singla.

The main accused, Deep-ak, suspected his neighbour Ashok Kumar, a property dealer, alleged harboured bad intentions for his sister-in-law.

“On August 5, Ashok Kumar was standing in front of Sewa Sadan Public School, Brahmpuri. Two persons on a motorcycle passed close to him and the rider, with covered face, took out a weapon and fired at him. The bullet passed through his shoulder and entered into his ribs. He identified the person who fired on him as Deepak, his neighbour,” the police said.

However, initial probe made it difficult for the police to connect the crime to Sharma. He later questioned and purportedly revealed that he had tried to conceal his crime, the police added.

“He told his family members, relatives and landlord that he would go to Balaji Mehandipur on the day of the crime. He asked his family members to send the detained juvenile to Maujpur but took a longish route to return to neighbourhood, wearing helmets to completely cover their faces. When they saw Kumar standing near the lane, they started the motorcycle and Sharma fired on Kumar. They ran away from the spot immediately,” said Mr Singla. The two then reached Ghonda Chowk to hide their motorcycle in Sharma’s shop, where he took an autorickshaw & reached ISBT. From there, he took another autorickshaw for Dhaula Kuan. From there they took a state roadways bus to Jaipur and then booked another roadways bus to Balaji.

“Deepak had kept tickets as proof of having visited Balaji,” said Mr Singla.