Killer of trader gunned down in Delhi arrested, claims he missed his target

New Delhi: Days after a meat trader was gunned down inside his car at a traffic signal on the busy Rohtak Road in New Delhi's Punjabi bagh, the police on Monday said they have caught the killer.

But the alleged killer, Arif alias Ikram, told his interrogators that he and his associates had missed their target and ended up killing his brother instead, reported Hindustan Times.

“Arif was in an ongoing tussle with a meat trader named Raees Qureshi. Raees and his brother Salim (also a meat trader) were travelling in a car when the motorcycle-borne assailants opened fire on July 18. They intended to kill Raees, but ended up shooting dead his brother Raees instead,” an officer of the special cell told Hindustan Times.

The police said that even though this particular murder sprouted from a business rivalry, Arif wsa involved in a host of other crimes previously. “He has 35 cases against him, including crimes like murder, extortion and robbery,” said Manishi Chandra, deputy commissioner of police (special cell).

The local police had earlier identified Arif as a suspect after analysing CCTV footage several hundred metres from the murder spot.