The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested an infamous arms supplier who was wanted in the case of conspiracy to kill a Delhi-based Kashmiri Pandit social activist.

The arrested arms supplier has been identified as Hazi Shamim alias Shamim Pistol. He is a notorious illegal arms supplier and has been supplying arms for more than 15 years.

He was first arrested with illegal arms in 2007. He deals in sophisticated arms including foreign-made weapons. According to police, five .32 bore pistols along with 20 live cartridges were recovered from his house.

Hazi Shamim
Delhi Police

"A team of the special cell, led by Inspector Sanjay Gupta and Inspector Rajesh Kumar under the close supervision of ACP Lalit Mohan Negi and ACP Hridaya Bhushan has arrested the accused Hazi Shamim alias Shamim Pistol, age 55 years R/o Uttari Laddhawala, Muzzafarnagar, UP", reads the statement issued by the police.

Shamim arranged weapon to kill Kashmiri Pandit activist

According to police, a conspiracy was hatched in February 2021, on directions from across the border, to kill a Kashmiri social activist, who is vocal about the issue of displaced Kashmiri Pandits.

Two persons namely Sukhwinder and Lakhan were arrested on February 26, 2021, in this connection. A case FIR No. 62/2021 dated 26.02.2021 u/s 115/120B/201/34 IPC PS R.K. Puram, Delhi was registered against them. Considering the gravity of the case, the investigation of the case was transferred to the Special Cell, Delhi.

After interrogation of Sukhwinder and Lakhan, the Special Cell has arrested four more persons namely Mohit alias Prince alias Tooti, Jagdeep alias Kaka, Rohit Chaudhary, and Hazi Shamim in this case.

Directions came from Pakistan to kill social activist

As per the official handout issued by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Singh Kushwah said the accused Rohit Chaudhary's brother Rahul was a constable in the Indian Army and an expert in drone handling.

Rahul was arrested by the Punjab Police and lodged in jail for his role in drug smuggling from Pakistan through drones. While Rahul is in jail, Pakistani handlers contacted Rohit and assured him to provide all possible assistance for the release of his brother.

Khalistani terrorist asks Rohit to kill Kashmiri activist

According to police, through Pakistani handlers, Rohit came in contact with one Randeep alias Romi and got involved in illegal drug trafficking.

Randeep was a resident of Amritsar, Punjab, and a terrorist of the Khalistan Zindabad Force. According to the Special Cell, Randeep, who has been absconding since 2014 and is hiding abroad, also runs an international drug cartel and enjoys the support of Pakistan.

Randeep assigned the task of killing the Kashmiri social activist to Rohit Chaudhary who asked another notorious criminal Jagdeep alias Kaka to arrange some boys for the murder of the Kashmiri social activist and also offered him Rs 50 lakhs for this assignment.

Two boys namely Lakhwinder and Lakhan were assigned the job to kill Kashmiri activists. They were promised Rs 10 lakh each for this killing, the police said.

During this conspiracy, weapons were arranged by Hazi Shamim. Both Lakhwinder and Lakhan were arrested last year in February.

When Hazi Shamim came to know about the arrest of Rohit Chaudhary by the Delhi Police, he tried to seek anticipatory bail, but the High Court directed him to surrender. However, instead of surrendering, he absconded.

The official said that Hazi Shamim on the basis of specific information was finally arrested from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh on January 19.

Hazi Shamim, a notorious arms suppliers

According to police Hazi Shamim is a notorious illegal arms supplier and has been supplying illegal arms for more than 15 years. He was first arrested with illegal arms in 2007. He deals in sophisticated arms including foreign make arms.

Hazi Shamim
Delhi Police

Prior to this case, he was previously arrested in several cases. Special Cell of Delhi Police had also arrested him thrice prior to this case.

In 2014, he and his associates were arrested by Special Cell and one AK-47 Rifle and 30 Pistols were recovered from them. Again in 2018, Special Cell arrested five of his associates and recovered 84 sophisticated pistols from them. During interrogation, they revealed the kingpin of this cartel as Hazi Shami.

In November 2018, a joint team of Special Cell and Muzzafarnagar Police arrested him after the exchange of fire, in which, Hazi Shamim received bullet injury in his leg, whereas one constable of UP Police also got injured. After releasing on bail, he again become active and remained involved in illegal arms trafficking.