2 more lawyers, prime accused in Tis Hazari firing case, arrested: Police
DCP (north district) Sagar Singh Kalsi said the two lawyers arrested on Friday have been identified as Manish Sharma and Lalit Sharma
NEW DELHI: Two lawyers including an office-bearer of the Delhi Bar Association have been arrested in connection with the firing incident at the Tis Hazari court complex on June 5, police said on Friday.
Five shots were fired at the court complex in north Delhi following a confrontation between two groups of lawyers. A purported video of the incident was circulated on social media, showing a man dressed as a lawyer firing what appeared to be a pistol, though police did not verify the authenticity of the clip.
Three lawyers were arrested within a day of the incident but the two prime accused were missing.
Deputy commissioner of police (DCP), north district, Sagar Singh Kalsi said the two men arrested on Friday have been identified as Manish Sharma and Lalit Sharma.
Kalsi said Manish Sharma is the senior vice president of Delhi Bar Association (DBA) at Tis Hazari court complex while Lalit Sharma, is the brother of DBA secretary Atul Sharma.
“Earlier on Thursday evening, we arrested Aman Singh, Sachin Sangwan, and Ravi Gupta, who were produced before a magistrate’s court, which sent them to four days’ police custody,” he said.
He further said that the arrests were made after officers analysed CCTV footage of the incident.
“Several teams were formed and an extensive operation was carried out in many areas of Bhalswa Dairy, Swaroop Nagar, Haiderpur, Shalimar Bagh, and Vikaspuri to nab the accused. We’ll produce them before a court and seek their police remand. All five are advocates and are practising at Tis Hazari court. They belong to rival groups of bar association office bearers. We have also recovered three country-made pistols, four live cartridges and two cars from the possession of three accused arrested on Thursday,” he said.
The DCP further said that the police have lodged a case under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapon), 149 (offence committed as part of unlawful assembly). 307 (attempt to murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 25 and 27 (possession of prohibited firearms) and 27 (use of prohibited firearms) of the Arms Act, based on the complaint given by Sunil Kumar, the branch in-charge of central district courts.
According to the first information report, police found five empty bullet shells during a cursory spot inspection.
“The video clip of 8 seconds showed a person wearing white shirt and grey pants firing from firearm in his right hand by pointing the arms in front direction towards several persons standing around him and the said firearm welding person identified as advocate Manish Sharma was moving in the same direction and one among the said persons is seen throwing stone in the direction of firing....with the intention and knowledge that by such act death can be caused to a person,” the FIR said.