Two west Delhi businessmen were shot dead on the streets of Pitampura

Day after two west Delhi businessmen were shot dead on the streets of Pitampura, Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal said there is no organised crime in the Capital. “There is no mafia or underworld (operating in Delhi),” Dadwal told Newsline on Tuesday. These are “isolated incidents of people being involved in contract killings. We do not have information about any gang operational in Delhi.” Several incidents in the past one month have seen criminals using firearms, which suggests organised crime is seeping into Delhi. Dadwal refused to comment on the double murder that has shaken the Capital — this was exactly two weeks after another businessman, Arun Gupta, was gunned down on a crowded Monday-morning street in Kalkaji. “We are investigating it; nothing can be disclosed at the moment.” On recent incidents of contract killings, armed robberies: “These incidents take place — they happened last year, before that, and would take place (in future). Crime has been there; it’s not new. But we have managed to bring it down. We are (now) working on specialised probe of these crimes.” However: Police sources say gangs have started operating in Delhi and many extortion incidents are being reported now, which is considered ‘organised crime’. Plans in several robberies reported lately also appear to be similar, done by one or two groups, they say.
On use and sale of firearms in Delhi: “There is no sale of illegal arms in Delhi. We have not come across any such activity.” So how are guns available so easily? “Some people bring in these weapons secretly.” However: A source says country-made pistols have been smuggled into Delhi since ages and are easily available in Seelampur and many trans-Yamuna areas. The weapons primarily come from eatern and western UP and Munger, Bihar.