Delhi cop's stolen pistol recovered after 18 months, 2 held

Nearly one and a half years after a Delhi Police assistant sub-inspector's service pistol was stolen, police Wednesday recovered the arm with the arrest of two persons in connection with the case.

The accused, identified as Aarif (30) and Mohammad Sajid (36), were arrested Tuesday, police said.

Aarif had stolen the pistol on June 11, 2017 from the ASI who had been busy helping the accident victims. Aarif later sold the stolen pistol to one of his friends, Sajid who upon realising that it may land him into trouble, returned the same to Aarif, they said.

Since then, they were looking for a buyer for the pistoll the gun, they added.

DCP (Shahdara) Meghna Yadav said the police were tipped off that Aarif was in possession of a 9mm government pistol. Following this, they contacted him, posing as interested buyers and asked him to come to Nathu Colony Chowk on Tuesday.

A trap was laid and both were arrested upon reaching the spot, they said.

During interrogation, Aarif said that on the day of the incident, he was present near Nand Nagri DTC depot and he noticed that some people had gathered near the depot, the DCP said.

He saw that there was an accident at the spot and the policemen were present there. While policemen were busy helping the victim, Arif moved closer to the ASI and fled with his pistol after taking the advantage of crowd, she said.

The pistol was loaded with 5-round magazines. Arif sold the pistol, along with 5 live cartridges, to Sajid for a sum of Rs 32,000, she added.

The 9 mm pistol loaded with three live cartridges was recovered from Aarif while two live cartridges were recovered from Sajid, police said.