Rohini court shootout: Delhi Police’s Crime Branch gets gangster Naveen Balli in its custody

PTI, Oct 6, 2021, 8:35 AM IST

The Delhi Police’s Crime Branch on Tuesday got jailed gangster Naveen Balli in its custody for two days to interrogate him about the killing of Jitender Gogi in a shootout inside a Rohini courtroom last month, officials said.

A few days ago, the Crime Branch had taken another jailed gangster Tillu Tajpuriya in its custody to grilled him about the killing.

Tajpuriya and Balli have been lodged in Mandoli Jail number 15. Tajpuriya has returned to prison after his three-day police remand ended, jail officials said.

A senior jail official said this is the first time that Balli was taken into police remand after his interrogation inside the jail.

According to the police, Tajpuriya is one of the prime conspirators behind the dramatic shootout inside the Rohini courtroom on September 24.

Roles of jailed gangsters Sunil Rathee and Naveen Balli, both chiefs of different criminal gangs, are also under the scanner.

Two assailants, dressed as lawyers, shot dead Jitender Gogi inside the Rohini court. They were then killed in police firing.

A preliminary investigation into the case had revealed that the instruction to kill Gogi was given on phone by Tajpuriya. Tajpuriya was in touch with his associates over VoIP call directing them how to execute the plan, a source said.

The Special Cell of the Delhi Police has arrested Umang Yadav and Vinay from a flat in northwest Delhi’s Haiderpur area in connection with the shootout and their custody was later handed over to the Crime Branch which is probing the case, police officials had said.

The Gogi and Tillu gangs are reportedly at war for years and their rivalry has claimed dozens of lives. To attain supremacy, these two gangs have formed alliances with other inter-state gangsters.

Gogi gang has allied with gangster Kala Jathedi, Lawrence Bishnoi, Sampat Nehra, Ashok Pradhan, Hashim Baba while the Tillu gang is being supported by Neeraj Bawana, Sunil Rathee, Naveen Bali, Nasir, according to the police.

Balli was involved in the conspiracy to kill Gogi. It was on his instructions that one of his associates Naveen Hooda had brought a Nepali citizen to Rohini court in advocates’ dress with weapons on the day of the incident to join the other assailants Rahul and Jagga.

A senior police officer said, ”Custodial interrogation of Naveen Balli is essential to unearth the deep-rooted conspiracy as well as to identify and arrest the alleged co-accused Naveen Hooda and the alleged Nepali man.”