A criminal has been arrested for killing a 21-year-old youth in an alleged road rage incident in east Delhi’s Acharya Niketan on December 9, the police said on Friday.
The accused, Sidhant Verma, 35, a resident of Ghaziabad, was arrested from Dasna toll plaza on Thursday night. The police has recovered a pistol and the car used in the crime from his possession.
“He is a dreaded criminal with over 30 previous involvements. He had been booked under the Gangster Act by Ghaziabad police. He stays with his family in an apartment in Ghaziabad and deals in property business,” said DCP (East) Pankaj Singh.
In bad company
Mr. Singh added that Sidhant and his family used to stay in Sabzi Mandi of north Delhi where his father owns a jewellery shop.
While he was helping his father in the business, he began keeping company with snatchers and started buying snatched gold jewellery. Later, he got involved in snatchings and was arrested several times.
The police said that during investigation, CCTV footage of the suspect was circulated and a criminal lodged in a city’s prison identified him. “We found out the details of the suspect from the police dossier and his house was raided but he was not found there. With the help of technical surveillance, he was located near Dasna in Ghaziabad. On Thursday night, he was nabbed along with the car and pistol from Dasna toll plaza,” an officer said.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that he had been involved in 33 criminal cases. On December 9, he met his old accomplice Pramod and decided to go to a convenience store in east Delhi for a midnight snack. Outside the store, they got into an argument with the deceased, Yogesh Singh Dedha, a resident of Chilla village, as Sidhant had parked his car right next to the victim’s motorcycle.
The argument escalated following which Yogesh picked up an iron rod and smashed the side glass of Sidhant’s car.
An angry Sidhant took out his pistol and fired multiple rounds at Yogesh. He then got in the car with Pramod and fled. After hearing the news of Yogesh’s death, they decided to flee Delhi-NCR for some time till the matter cooled down.
Accused warned victim
During investigation, Sidhant told the police that he had warned Yogesh and his friends twice to stay away from him, but they deliberately picked up a fight with him for no reason.
“I have more number of FIRs against me than your age, it is better to do your work and stay away from me,” the accused had told the victim and his friends before he fired on them.
