New Delhi, (Samajweekly) In an incident creating shock and tension, a woman was shot multiple times and seriously injured by an assailant wearing a lawyer’s garb in the Saket Court premises in south Delhi on Friday morning, police said.
The victim, M. Radha, in her 40s, is now in stable condition while the accused, identified as Kameshwar Kumar Singh, was arrested by the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch from Faridabad in neighbouring in Haryana.
Singh, a resident of Chattarpur and a lawyer who is presently debarred, had entered the court complex wearing a lawyer’s attire and carryngd a gun.
As per a video of the incident, going viral on social media, Singh can be seen running after the woman and shooting her. The woman is screaming and several people, including lawyers can be seen standing nearby.
Radha received two bullet injuries in abdomen and one in the hand and she was taken to Max Saket hospital, where she was discharged after the treatment on Friday evening.
As per eyewitness, a total of 4-5 rounds were fired and the accused escaped through the court canteen’s back entry.
According to Special Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Ravindra Singh Yadav, on technical surveillance, it was found that the last location of accused person was in area of Surya Nagar, Ismailpur, Faridabad.
“Two separate teams had already raided the address of the accused person in Chhatarpur, but the house was found locked. The quick action by the team sent to Faridabad yielded results, when they spotted the scooty of accused person in Surya Nagar, Faridabad,” he said.
The contacts of the accused person were analyzed and one of contact was found in Surya Nagar, Faridabad and the scooty was also spotted in the same area.
“Immediately, the house was raided and Singh was found hidden in the house. He was interrogated, wherein he disclosed involvement in the shooting,” said the Special CP.
On interrogation, Singh disclosed that he is a practising advocate at Saket Court, but Bar Council has suspended his licence for three years till 2024.
As per the Special CP, the accused claims that he gave Rs 25 lakh “friendly” loan to Radha, but she did not repay a single penny.
Singh had lodged the FIR last year in November against Radha and advocate Rajendra Jha under Sections 406 (Punishment for criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at the Saket police station.
According to the FIR accessed by IANS, Jha, along with Radha, hatched a criminal conspiracy in order to “cheat, defraud, embezzle at large scope to the public at large”.
“Jha showed me a very good plan of investment of money in which money was paid at a very high rate of interest, i.e., @ 20-40 per cent per month. He and Radha are in collusion with each other and have induced so many persons and cheated them at large scale,” Singh said, as per the FIR.
“Jha introduced me to M. Radha and said to me that she is the person who grows/makes the investment very high. Jha told me that Radha will do everything to multiply the invested money at a very high rate of interest. She is the financing director/controller for investors,” read the FIR.
“I flatly refused the above said plan of Jha and denied to pay even a single penny in such transaction. Then Jha lured me saying that I need not to enter into any transaction of this plan but Radha is in dire need of money now and he had no money to give her so if I give her a sum of Rs 25 lakh as a friendly loan, for which he is the guarantor to repay the said amount with 20 per cent interest, saying that if she will not pay them he shall pay the same,” the FIR stated.
“Trusting fully upon the assurances by Jha, I made payment of Rs 25 lakh to Radha,” read the FIR.A
As per the FIR the amount was transferred on different dates from April 30, 2022 to August 1, 2022 through cheque and RTGS.
“A amount of Rs 6,75,000 was paid in cash to Jha who gave the said money to Radha in Jha’s chamber in Saket Court Complex,” the FIR added.
Singh said that “both the persons have hatched a conspiracy against me, defrauded me heavily and grossly cheated me in a sum of Rs 25 lakh along with interest @ 20 per cent per month thereon”.
“Jha and Radha have only paid me Rs 3,00,000 through the RTGS facility and no further money was paid to me thereafter. They have grossly violated the terms and conditions of my investment,” read the FIR.
During interrogation, Singh further disclosed that he warned her that if she did not return the money, he will kill her in the court in front of everyone.
The Special CP said that on Friday, Radha had come to attend a court matter at Saket Court and the accused stopped her near the lawyer’s chamber and asked her to return his money but she refused. Thereafter, he took the licensed revolver of his private security guard Ajay and fired four rounds at her.
“Thereafter, he ran away from the spot and hid himself at Surya Nagar, Ismailpur, Faridabad. All the disclosures made by the accused are subject to verification and corroboration during investigation,” said the official.
