Foreign guns, six young men: How twin shootings in Delhi, Haryana were executed

On June 10, six men allegedly picked up a cache of foreign-made firearms — Turkey-made Zigana pistols and Pakistan-made TT-30 .30-bore weapons — from a location between Hansi and Sonipat in Haryana.

On June 11, in a span of two hours, one group fired at Guru Randhawa-owned 24 HS Gym in Delhi’s Paschim Vihar while the second group shot dead gym trainer Kapil Redhu outside his gym in Hansi.

The six accused — Arman, Tushar, Sagar, Haqeeqat, Pravesh and Himanshu, aged between 19 and 22 — were from Haryana’s Hisar and Sonipat districts.

Police said all of them were allegedly connected to Anil Pandit and Sunder Hansi, associates of the Harry Boxer-led Lawrence Bishnoi gang, through encrypted messaging applications Signal and Zangi.

Arman, Tushar, Sagar and Haqeeqat were arrested by the Delhi Police Crime Branch and Special Cell after they were identified through CCTV footage later in June.

Pravesh and Himanshu were killed in an encounter on Sunday.

The two other alleged shooters, Pravesh and Himanshu, were gunned down during an encounter with a joint team of the Haryana and Delhi Police in Bahadurgarh during the early hours of Sunday.

Police said the case is the latest example of gangsters increasingly using foreign-made pistols in shootings across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). “The pistols used in both crimes are suspected to have been smuggled through the Pakistan border using drones, which is happening on a massive scale,” a police officer said.

How the men were recruited

According to a police officer, the Lawrence syndicate lured these young men, all of whom had studied up to Classes 10 and 12, with promises of a lavish lifestyle.

The “lavish lifestyle”, the officer said, included expensive shoes, parties, and drinks at high-end bars and hotels. This continued for a few days before they were allegedly assigned their first task.

“Arman, Tushar, Sagar and Haqeeqat were assigned to target Guru Randhawa-owned 24 HS Gym while Pravesh and Himanshu were tasked with allegedly targeting Redhu — locations nearly 130 km apart. Stolen vehicles were also provided to them, following which they allegedly opened fire at their respective targets,” the police officer said.

When police arrested Sagar and Haqeeqat, they claimed to have recovered a Pakistan-made TT 30-style .30-bore pistol from one of the suspects. They said it matched the type allegedly used in the gym shooting.

While the TT 30 design dates to the Soviet era, police said the seized weapon is a Pakistani-manufactured version of that model, which is often smuggled into India.

‘Gang’ claims responsibility

In the Paschim Vihar case, police had said two men on a bike fired seven rounds, which shattered the window panes of the gym. The gym is located on the fourth floor of a commercial building. The other floors house popular fast-food chains Popeye’s and Domino’s, which see heavy footfall throughout most of the day.

Redhu, 25, was shot dead while he was conducting an outdoor morning training session near Fawwara Chowk in Hansi, when two men fired 10 rounds at point-blank range within five seconds, killing him on the spot. The bullet fragments also injured a female trainee.

Soon after the shootings, an audio clip went viral in which a man claiming to be Harry Boxer, who is believed to be operating from the US, took responsibility for both attacks.

In the purported recording, he alleged that he had warned Randhawa to stay away from Bollywood actor Salman Khan and claimed that the shooting was intended as a warning after the singer allegedly ignored his advice.

In the same clip, he claimed Redhu was killed because he was allegedly involved in planning a recent shootout in Shekhpura and Dhani Purnia.

Following the two cases, the Special Cell invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against Boxer, Pandit and other members of their syndicate.

Police said the investigation will focus on dismantling the syndicate’s financial and logistical network while securing their extradition or deportation.