Shahrukh Pathan, whose video of confronting a policeman while brandishing a gun at him during violence at northeast Delhi's Maujpur last week went viral, was arrested from Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district, police said on Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) AK Singhla said Pathan (23) fled to Punjab after his video was widely circulated on social media and shown on news channels.
Later, he hid at a friend's house in Shamli, he added.
Based on information received and extensive discreet inquiries conducted in different parts of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, the police zeroed in on the area around Shamli and Kairana, Singhla said.
On the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, police received information that Pathan would be coming to Shamli bus stand between 10 am and 12 noon to meet someone, he said.
A trap was laid and he was arrested, the officer added.
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"He (Shahrukh) was planning to flee Shamli but was nabbed and later brought to Delhi," Singhla said.
"We are trying to recover the pistol used by him during the violence. He was fond of buying pistols. He had procured a 7.65 mm pistol and ammunition about two years ago from one of his (factory) labourers," he said.
"The good quality semi-automatic pistol (that Pathan used during the northeast Delhi violence) was bought from Munger in Bihar," he added.
Singhla said Pathan had gone to the protest alone. He had five bullets but two of them fell. He fired the remaining three.
"He will be produced in court and taken into police remand," the officer said.
During interrogation, Pathan told police that he opened fire in a fit of rage as stone pelting was going on, he added.
In the viral video, Pathan, a resident of northeast Delhi's Ghonda, could be seen pointing his pistol at the policeman on the Jaffrabad-Maujpur road on February 24.
According to police, he threatened the policeman, Deepak Dahiya, before fleeing.
Police are also trying to trace his family members, who are absconding, Singhla said.
A college dropout, Pathan was interested in bodybuilding and modelling. He used to make TikTok videos. He owns a shop and a socks manufacturing factory in Ghonda, he added.
After the incident, he was initially roaming in Delhi. He left after his video went viral and was shown on news channels, Singhla said.
He first went to Punjab. Then he hid in Bareilly before moving to a friend's place in Shamli, he said.
Efforts are being made to recover his weapon. He is being interrogated about his role in the riots and that of others known to him, he added.
No criminal background of Pathan has been found so far. His father was found involved in a narcotics case, the police said.
They said investigation is underway to ascertain if he is associated with any gang or part of any conspiracy.
The vehicle used by the accused to flee Delhi has also not been recovered yet, they said.