NEW DELHI: A tattoo artist and his three associates were arrested for allegedly trying to kill his ex-wife's brother after failing to get the custody of his daughter, the Delhi Police said on Wednesday.
The main accused -- Vishal Sharma (32) is a resident of Kirari Suleman Nagar while his accomplices include Ramdev (25), a resident of Paharganj, Akshay (25), a resident of Uttam Nagar and Guddu Kumar (23), a resident of Prem Nagar-III, they said.
On Friday evening, police received information from B L Kapoor Hospital that one Lakshya Nagpal (40), a resident of East Patel Nagar, was admitted there with a bullet injury.
He was shot at on his thigh at around 5.45 pm in East Patel Nagar by two bike borne assailants.
Nagpal suspected the involvement of his sister's ex-husband who had recently threatened to shoot him, a senior police officer said.
Police scanned all CCTV camera footage of the nearby areas and identified the bike which was used by the accused, they said.
During investigation, it was revealed that Sharma had stayed at a guest house in Paharganj with his associate Akshay on July 2, the officer said.
"Raids were conducted and on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, Akshay and Guddu Kumar were apprehended. They revealed that both were involved in the shooting," Deputy Commissioner of Police (central) Sanjay Bhatia said.
On their instance, Sharma and Ramdev were apprehended from a hotel in Dwarka's sector 9 area, the DCP said.
Sharma had married Nagpal's sister -- Saloni around five years ago but the couple got separated in September 2019.
They have a four-year-old daughter, police said.
After the divorce, Sharma had the custody of his daughter, but two years ago, his wife got the custody of the child. This infuriated Sharma who decided to kill his ex-wife in order to get back his daughter, Bhatia said.
However, when Sharma could not get the mobile number or find out the whereabouts of Saloni, he hatched a conspiracy to shoot her brother, police said.
On the day of the incident, the accused people reached East Patel Nagar and fired at Nagpal's leg and fled from the spot.
Akshay was riding the bike and Ramdev, who was riding pillion, fired at Nagpal, the DCP added.
Ramdev and Akshay had purchased the bike used in the incident from Nizamuddin area on the same day, police said.
After the incident, Sharma, Akshay and Kumar went to Jalandhar in Punjab.
After visiting a dargah (shrine) in Nakodar, they returned to Delhi on Saturday evening, police added.