Gurgaon: More than 60 rounds were fired as a lane inside the city’s tony Sushant Lok colony – nestled between Beverly Park 1 and Essel Tower – became the scene of a fierce gunfight on Thursday night between police and five hired hitmen, who were allegedly sent to a 36-year-old businessman’s house by UK-based gangster Deepak Nandal over an alleged extortion demand of Rs 10 crore.The gunfight ended with four of the shooters, among them a Class XI student, dead, a fifth critical in hospital, and three cops with bullet injuries. An encounter of this scale is unprecedented in Haryana and also marks extortion crime in Delhi-NCR going several notches up in sheer brazenness.The first shots rang out in Sushant Lok around 9.50 pm, startling the bungalow-lined colony preparing to retire for the night, after the shooters had parked their Scorpio, its registration plate masked with black tape to evade number plate reading cameras, on the ramp of the businessman’s house. They fired at cars parked in the compound and a balcony and window on the first floor. At the time, the businessman’s wife, his brother and brother-in-law were at the house, besides domestic staff. The businessman, son of a private university’s co-founder, himself was at a pub. Some bullets got through and hit the house’s internal walls, but no one was injured.Three of the shooters got out of the black SUV to fire. One recorded the shooting on his phone, purportedly to send footage back to Nandal, while the other stayed behind the wheel. They didn’t know they had company.Police said, based on information about extortion threats, crime branch personnel had been deployed a few days ago near homes of potential targets, all businessmen. Three crime branch teams keeping watch near the Sushant Lok A block house were expecting a black Scorpio after a tip-off. One blocked one side of the lane and asked the shooters to surrender, officers said. But the shooters panicked and fired back, hoping the cops would retreat and they would back up the Scorpio and escape.The house is located at the end of a T-point and has three access roads. The other two teams, meanwhile, blocked the other two access points, which pinned the shooters to the ramp near the house. Around 30 cops were involved in the operation.Police said the gunfight after this lasted around 2 minutes. But it was an intense exchange in which the shooters, who were armed with automatic PX 30 pistols, allegedly fired around 40 rounds. The crime branch personnel were armed with long-range guns. Since the area has many civilians, the crime branch personnel were forced to retaliate when the shooters did not stop firing, police said.The gunshots and the subsequent encounter sent residents out for post-dinner walks running for cover behind parked cars and trees. The scary moments were captured by some residents on their phone cameras from their house balconies or from the streets. Some of these videos show armed crime branch personnel. In some others, loud gunshots are heard.The killed shooters were identified as Deepa alias Sandeep, 35, a resident of Fatehabad who had 14 criminal cases against him; Nitin (22); Ankit (18), and a 17-year-old boy who was a javelin thrower for his school team. Shivam, who is from Nuh, sustained two bullet injuries in his leg and abdomen and is under observation in hospital. Deepa suffered four bullet injuries on his chest, neck, left hand and left leg, Ankit was hit by seven bullets in his stomach, neck and legs, Nitin was hit five times in his chest and stomach, and the juvenile five times in his head and chest.DCP (crime) Hitesh Yadav, who led the operation, told TOI on Friday the shooters “were sent with an intention to kill”. He said Gurgaon police had specific intelligence inputs about an impending attack on prominent businessmen and had, therefore, stationed counter-attack teams in close proximity.“Nandal is desperate for money and we knew he would strike sooner than later. We had specific intel and also received a call in which we were told that 4-5 people were moving around in a suspicious manner in a black Scorpio, carrying arms. Around 9.50 pm on Thursday, the moment the gangsters started to fire, my team moved in and left no room for them to escape,” Yadav said.“While four of them got eliminated, we rushed the fifth to Medanta. I personally called the doctors and asked them to ready the operation theatre. We want him to remain alive at any cost. We want to send across a message to these gangsters that Gurgaon and Haryana are no safe havens for them,” Yadav said. Constables Manjeet Singh and Shamsher Singh and assistant sub-inspector Sunil Kumar suffered bullet injuries. They are under treatment at Medanta and stable.Forensic and ballistic teams, which arrived from Karnal around 3 am, spent several hours locating bullet casings that lay strewn across the encounter site. Officers said Nandal had threatened the businessman several times and had sent the hitmen after being rebuffed. Wanted in multiple firing, extortion and murder cases, Nandal has been involved in several recent extortion threats. He had allegedly sent expletives-laden audio messages to the businessman, warning him of consequences for not paying him. In one message, Nandal tells him he knows where he lives and works and will get him.“The businessman had gone to a pub with his friends. He was informed about the shooting and brought safely to his house. There were relatives in the house who are still in deep shock,” an officer said. According to sources, the Scorpio was initially owned by a Gurgaon resident, Satish, who sold it three years ago to Pawan Bharadwaj, who further sold it to Ajay in Rohtak. The shooters had rented the vehicle.The operation formally concluded around 8 am on Friday after forensic teams completed evidence collection. Police recovered five pistols, more than 50 empty cartridge cases, live ammunition and the bullet-riddled Scorpio.Nitin had two criminal cases registered in Rohtak on charges of attempt to murder and illegal possession of arms. Verification of the criminal antecedents of the other shooters is on, ACP (crime) Naveen Sharma said. An FIR was filed at DLF Sector 29 police station under sections of the Arms Act and BNS charges of attempt to murder and organised crime.
