Delhi police today ruled out terror angle into the case of firing on constables at Connaught Place here and said the three men were hardened criminal and hired by a local drug peddler to settle scores with his rival and to intimidate some witnesses.
One of the three attackers, who was caught from the spot has been identified as Mohd Rizwan (50). Rizwan is a bad character of Moradabad and involved in over 20 cases of murder, attempt to murder, robbery, dacoity under the IPC and the Arms Act, a police official said.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police, which also interrogated Rizwan, has ruled out a terror angle in this case.
A team of Moradabad Police has also reached Delhi to join investigation. Rizwan's two associates, who had managed to flee, have also been identified and several teams have been scrambled to nab them, police said.
A .32 bore revolver, three live rounds, five SIM cards, paper cuttings of criminal incidents of Moradabad and a dairy containing numbers of various criminals of the area has been recovered from him, they said.
During interrogation, Rizwan revealed he was a friend of a drug peddler of Shankar Market who had called him to Delhi for two reasons.
"First to intimidate some witnesses from Bijnaur who were supposed to depose in a kidnapping case which is pending against one Ashu Pehlwan, a close associate of the peddler.
"The second was to settle scores with another criminal Sunil Behari. Behari and Pehlwan are rivals and known criminals of Minto Bridge area. They have several cases pending against them. Rizwan hatched a plan to implicate Sunil Behari by injuring one of their associates and then name Sunil. However, the plan could not materialise as they ran into cops last night," a police official probing the case said.
"Rizwan was produced before a local court which has sent him in three days police custody. The Moradabad Police have reached the Capital and to join investigations. The probe is on and efforts are being made to nab his two associates who are on the run," Additional Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) SBS Tyagi said.
The incident which took place last evening at 9:05 PM when Rizwan and his two associates opened fire on Delhi Police constables Sandeep and Prateek in the busy market place on being stopped by the cops for questioning.
In all, five rounds were fired, four by the assailants and one from the policemen but luckily no one sustained gunshot injuries.
