Delhi riots: Man who supplied firearm to rioter Shahrukh Khan held

New Delhi, April 8 (IANS) An illegal arms supplier who provided a weapon to Delhi riot accused Shahrukh Khan alias Pathan, was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police, an official said on Friday.

The arrested person, identified as Babu Wasim (34), was wanted in connection with the case of the 2020 northeast Delhi riots in which Pathan was found pointing a loaded pistol towards a policeman in the Jafrabad area.

The video of the incident had gone viral on social media and Wasim absconded to evade arrest. He was declared a proclaimed offender by a trial court in Delhi on March 16, 2021 in that case.

DCP (Special Cell), Delhi Police, Jasmeet Singh said they got information that Babu Wasim was frequenting the Trans-Yamuna area in Delhi-NCR and other adjoining areas of western Uttar Pradesh after which a team was constituted led by ACP Athar Singh to catch Wasim.

On April 7, the police received a tip-off that Babu Wasim will arrive in Tahirpur area of Delhi between 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. to meet one of his contacts. Subsequently, the police laid a trap and nabbed Wasim. "One semi-automatic pistol of .32 calibre with 5 live cartridges was recovered from him," the official said.

During interrogation, Wasim admitted to have supplied the firearms and ammunition to various notorious gangsters and dreaded criminals in western UP and Delhi-NCR during the last 10 years. He also admitted to have given the pistol to Pathan prior to the North-East Delhi riots.

During interrogation it was found that Wasim has supplied more than 250 firearms to criminals and arms traffickers in Delhi-NCR during the last two and a half years. Not just arms trafficking, Wasim was also found to be previously involved in 7 criminal cases including contract killings, shootouts resulting in murder, attempt to murder, assault on police, hurt, arms smuggling etc in Delhi and UP.

In one of the cases in 2016, Wasim along with his associates had executed a contract killing by shooting one Veenu Pandit at the behest of the business partners of the deceased for a consideration of Rs 17 lakh, the official said.

Wasim's further involvement in the 2020 Delhi riots is being probed, the official added.