Burger King shooting: Shooters among 3 killed in police encounter in Haryana

Three gangsters, including two shooters allegedly behind the west Delhi food joint murder last month, were shot dead on Friday, 12 July in a joint operation by the Haryana Police and the Delhi Crime Branch in Sonipat, officials said.

They said Sub-Inspector Amit of the Crime Branch was injured in the operation. The Delhi Police Crime Branch team was led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Umesh Bharatwal under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Amit Goel.

DCP West, Sonipat, Narinder Singh told PTI that a Haryana Police Special Task Force (STF) member also suffered injuries. Another police official from Sonipat said the encounter took place on Chhinoli Road in Kharkhoda.

Police identified the gangsters gunned down in the operation as Ashish alias Lalu, Sunny Kharar and Vicky Ridhana, and said all three were members of the Himanshu Bhau gang.

They said Ashish and Ridhana were the ones who shot 26-year-old Aman Joon dead at a Rajouri Garden Burger King outlet on 18 June.

Joon, a native of Haryana, was attacked when he was seated with a woman at the eatery. The woman, who allegedly had 'honey trapped' him, is at large.

An associate of the two shooters, Bijender was arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell in Rohini on 28 June. He had taken Ashish and Ridhana to the outlet on his motorcycle.

Kharar, along with Ashish and Ridhana, was allegedly involved in a shooting outside a vehicle showroom in Hisar days after Joon's murder.

A senior Delhi Police officer said the Crime Branch and the Haryana Police STF were tipped off about the trio hiding in Kharkhoda village.

When a joint team reached the spot, the gangsters opened fire at the police personnel, injuring the sub-inspector, he said, adding that SI Amit sustained a bullet wound in his thigh.

As the police team retaliated, a gunfight ensued and the three gangsters suffered critical injuries, the officer said, adding that they were declared dead later at a city hospital.

He said the Himanshu Bhau gang has been extorting lakhs of rupees from businessmen in Haryana and Delhi. The joint force seized five pistols from the encounter site, the officer added.

The killing at the Burger King outlet in Rajouri Garden was seen as part of an ongoing gang war between jailed gangsters Neeraj Bawana and Ashok Pradhan.

Fugitive Spain-based gangster Himanshu Bhau, a close aide of Bawana, took responsibility for the murder in a social media post and said his gang had avenged the killing of Bawana's cousin Shakti Singh in October 2020.

Joon is believed to have passed on information regarding Shakti Singh's whereabouts to Pradhan, police had said.