Delhi gang war: ‘It felt like a terrorist attack’

NEW DELHI: The daring attack triggered panic among the shopkeepers and the onlookers. “I felt that the next bullet will hit me,” Govind Agarwal, who runs an electronic store in Narela’s Sawarkar Market, said, as he recalled the two minutes of horror in which a man was gunned down in front of his shop in broad daylight.

Agarwal told TOI that he was busy dealing with customers when he heard a cracker-like sound. As he turned around to check, he was left horrified. “The men had surrounded the white SUV, and were

firing

inside it non-stop. One of them was directly facing my shop while targeting inside the car. I quickly ducked down behind the counter. They continued to fire for two minutes,” Agarwal said.

Another neighbouring shopkeeper, who witnessed the incident, said that the assailants brazenly walked away after ensuring that their rival was dead. “While walking back to their car, they yelled and warned that nobody should dare to follow their vehicle. I had seen the gang wars in Mumbai, but never thought that such a thing would unfold in front of my eyes. It felt like a terror attack,” the shopkeeper said.

Only after a few minutes that the assailants had gone away, the locals dared to come out of their shops and houses and take the victim out of the car. The crowd sent the bullet-riddled victim in an e-rickshaw even as the police teams reached the spot. Photos and videos of the

crime

were being circulated widely in the area.

The Sunday’s incident reminded many of a sensational double murder that happened around two years ago nearly at the same place. On October 31, Pankaj Goel (36) was on his way to a bank to deposit about Rs 25 lakh. He was accompanied by his manager Harish Goel (32). Just outside the bank, the car was intercepted by bike-borne robbers, who shot both Pankaj and Harish dead after they resisted the robbery bid.