In a suspected case of road rage, a 27-year-old man driving a car allegedly in an inebriated state opened fire on a group of friends travelling in another vehicle in the Delhi Cantonment area, injuring one of them, police said on Thursday.
The accused, Nitin a resident of Kalkaji, has been arrested. The injured, Sandeep Bhati, is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Noida and is stated to be out of danger, they said.
The incident took place early on Wednesday morning. A friend of the victim made a PCR call around 5 am informing police about the incident.
According to the victim's friends, they were returning from Kholi Baba Dham in Rajasthan's Bhiwadi on Wednesday morning. Near the Delhi airport, they noticed a blue car being driven with headlights switched off and accelerated their own vehicle, police said.
The blue car started following them and when they reached the Western Air Command Gate on RTR Marg, the driver of the blue car allegedly fired on them, a senior police officer said.
"The bullet shattered the rear glass of the victim's car and hit Sandeep's head. His friends tried to stop the car but the accused fled after hitting their car. They took Sandeep to Yatharth Super Specialty Hospital in Noida, where he is still in the ICU," he said.
Police checked the CCTV cameras along the Delhi-Gurgaon border and identified the accused's vehicle which led to the arrest. Also, an empty cartridge was recovered from the crime spot.
"Interrogation revealed that the accused was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident and could not recollect the sequence of events or that he had opened fire.
"We suspect that he opened fire in a fit of rage as he could not overtake the victim's vehicle when they did not give him way despite honking," the police officer said.
Later, Nitin also caused an accident at Kalkaji damaging the car. He took his car to a workshop in Okhla for repair where it was traced by the investigating police officers, he said, adding the accused's mother is an employee of the Delhi police posted in the south district.
Police are yet to recover the weapon and further investigation is underway, the police officer said.
