An alleged member of a gang, which had arrived here from Bangkok to commit a burglary and shot a jeweller dead last night during the robbery bid at his shop in North Delhi's Kotwali area, was arrested today from IGI airport when he was trying to flee to Thailand, police said.
The accused, identified as Karan Valecha (26) is a class 12 drop out. He worked with his father, who had a jewellery designing shop. In 2010, he got a job in Bangkok and since then was living there and met the other two accused, who are on the run, they said.
"During the probe it was learnt that one of the accused may try to flee the country following which an immigration alert was sounded. Valecha had booked a ticket to Bangkok on an Air India flight, scheduled to take off at 1:20 PM. He was detained at the immigration and later handed to us," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sindhu Pillai.
The sensational incident had taken place in the famous bullion market of Dariba Kalan at around 9 PM yesterday.
"Three armed robbers barged into the shop of one Kanhaiya Lal, located at first floor, where he along with his sons was preparing to wind up for the day. The robbers tried to loot the cash and jewellery, but Lal and his sons resisted," said Pillai.
In the scuffle, one of the robbers fired rounds with a country-made weapon, there by injuring Lal. The bullet hit him in the right abdomen. Taking advantage of the commotion, all of the three managed to escape, police said.
A PCR call was received at 9:15 PM, she said, adding the victim was immediately shifted to Sushruta Trauma centre, where he was declared as brought dead.
In the melee, the attackers left a bag on the spot which provided crucial information about them.
It came to light that they had conducted thorough reece before committing robbery and had stayed in a hotel in Paharganj area for the night.
Their identities were established with the help of CCTV footages and other clues, the police official said, adding as they could also try to flee out of the country the authorities at various airports were put on alert and look out circulars were issued which led to the arrest of Karan Valecha.
"It also came to light that the gang had also reeced Karol Bagh and Lal Quarters but zeroed in on to target Lal's shop. Knowing that they can be tracked through technical surveillance, the gang never used mobile phones and borrow phones from random people to make calls," said Pillai.
During interrogation, Valecha told police that he has been living in Bangkok for the last 4-5 years. One of his brother is settled in Bangkok.
He used to come to India to commit crimes off and on. As he had worked in the area of Dariba Kalan 6-7 years back, he had good knowledge of the topography which helped him plan and execute it well, police said.
"Arrest of Valecha in less than 24 hours of the incident has helped in restoring the faith of people in the security of the area. Several teams of North District are on the hunt to catch the remaining two accused at the earliest," said Pillai.
