Six murders in one month in Delhi-NCR: Is law and order crumbling?

New Delhi: Six murders in Delhi and neighbouring districts in the last month have raised questions over policing and the law and order situation in the national capital region.

These include the murders of Indian National Lok Dal's Haryana unit chief Nafe Singh Rathee and party member Jai Kishan in Bahadurgarh, a part of Jhajjar district that shares a border with Delhi, a senior officer said on Tuesday.

The NCR encompasses Delhi, Noida, and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, and Gurugram, Faridabad, Jhajjar, and Sonipat in Haryana.

The similar modus operandi in all these murders has led the police to suspect the involvement of gangsters, the officer further said.

The first murder was of Air India crew member Suraj Maan (32), who was shot dead by three men in Noida Sector 104 on January 19.

Two of the shooters caught by the Delhi Police and handed over to the Noida Police had allegedly worked at the behest of Delhi-based jailed gangster Kapil Mann, who had a 15-year rivalry with another jailed gangster Parvesh Maan.

Suraj Maan was Parvesh Maan's younger brother. Both Parvesh Maan and Kapil Maan are from Delhi's Narela, with their rivalry beginning over a land dispute.

According to the Noida Police, the shooters were provided with sophisticated weapons to eliminate Suraj Maan.

"The third shooter has been identified but yet to be arrested," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Vidya Sagar Mishra told PTI.

The Noida Police is planning to interrogate Kapil Maan in connection with the case.

Delhi-based gangster Surajbhan alias Ballu Pehalwan (42) was shot dead by two men in Faridabad's Sector 11 on January 31. The attackers fired at least 20 rounds at him, leaving him dead on the spot.

The murder was also the outcome of a gang rivalry, another Delhi Police officer said.

According to the Faridabad Police, Ballu was a close associate of US-based gangster Kapil Sangwan alias Nandu and the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

Ballu, who was facing more than a dozen criminal cases, was a prime witness in the murder case of his brother-in-law, a Faridabad Police officer said.

Ballu was a native of Delhi's Nazafgarh but had been living in Faridabad for six months before he was killed.

Two days after Ballu's murder, the Faridabad Police commissioner constituted a special investigation team but no arrests have been made yet.

The Faridabad Police's Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Aman Yadav told PTI that they have identified some suspects and the investigation is underway.

In February, a double murder inside a saloon in Najafgarh shook the national capital after a purported CCTV recording of the alleged incident surfaced on social media. One of the victims was seen in the video pleading for his life before being shot from point-blank range.

The victims -- Ashish and Sonu, both in their early 30s -- were shot dead by two men inside the saloon.

The Delhi Police is yet to crack the case despite the attackers being identified, sources said.

Ashish and Sonu were shot by Sanjeev Dhaiya and Harsh alias Chintu over a social media post, an officer said.

Chintu, who was recently released on bail, is the brother of jailed gangster Yogesh Tunda, who had allegedly killed gangster Sunil Tajpuria in Tihar jail last year, the officer added.

Dahiya is a lawyer and his father is an assistant sub-inspector in the Delhi Police, he said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Ankit Singh said several teams are working to nab the accused.

The fourth incident -- the murders of Rathee and Kishan on February 25 -- raised further questions over law and order in NCR.

The attackers fired at least 40 rounds at the SUV in which Rathee and three others were sitting at a railway crossing in Bahadurgarh.

The Haryana Police has registered an FIR and booked at least 12 people on a complaint lodged by Rathee's family. The police suspect the murders to be a case of contract killing due to personal enmity or property dispute.

The Haryana Police is taking the help of its counterparts in Delhi, Rajasthan, and Punjab to identify the attackers.

The police have recovered some CCTV footage of the suspects' cars but they are yet to be identified.