Constable killed, one injured in firing in court room

A Delhi Police constable was killed and an undertrial critically injured when a group of "contract killers", all suspected to be minors, opened fire inside a court room here today, following which four persons, including a juvenile apprehended for a murder case last year, were detained.
The deceased identified as Head Constable Ram Kanwar Meena, posted at Delhi Police's third battalion, was escorting an undertrial, Irfan alias Chaini Pehlwan, at court number 73 in east Delhi's Karkardooma court when the incident took place around 11 AM, said a police official.
"While Meena was hit by four bullets, Irfan sustained two. They were both rushed to Hedgewar Hospital, where the former was declared brought dead, following which the police registered a case of murder and attempt to murder," said DCP (East) B S Gurjar.

The accused fired at least eight rounds, of which one of the bullets scraped past the chair of Metropolitan Magistrate Sunil Gupta and the shards of the pallet of another injured the naib court (a constable rank official attached with the court room).
The assailants tried to escape but the lawyers in the court, along with security personnel, held them and handed them over to the police team which rushed to the spot after the incident, said a police official.
"The detained persons have so far claimed to be minors and they were contract killers hired by one Naseer, who heads a gang in the Trans-Yamuna region and is presently lodged in jail in connection with a murder case," said a police official privy to the investigation.

Naseer, instead of instructing any of his own gang members to go for the kill, allegedly hired the teenage assailants, who are from southeast Delhi's Dakshinpuri and Madangir areas, and asked them to eliminate his rival Irfan, who was to come to Karkardooma court for a hearing today, said the official.
"A police team is presently checking records to ascertain the actual age of the accused persons. One of them has turned out to be a 17 year and nine month old boy who was one of the five juveniles apprehended for the stabbing to death a youth at southeast Delhi's Ambedkar Nagar area in broad daylight in August 2014," the official said.

It is suspected that the accused, presently detained at the police chowki inside the court premises, were hired because of their age, keeping in mind the legal provisions which go with that, the official added.