new Delhi: The Special Cell of the Delhi Police on Friday arrested a 34-year-old man, known as Babu Wasim, for supplying arms to an accused in the North-East Delhi riots case.
Wasim supplied arms to Delhi riots accused Shahrukh Pathan, whose visuals of a Delhi Police personnel pointing a pistol at him were widely shared on social media.
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The Delhi Police has identified the accused as Babu Wasim, a resident of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, news agency PTI reported.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Jasmeet Singh said that the police received information on Thursday that Waseem has to reach Tahirpur at around 6 pm to meet one of his contacts. Accordingly, a trap was laid near Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital and he was apprehended.
The DCP said that a pistol and five live cartridges have been recovered from him.
According to the official, Wasim is a supplier of arms and has confessed to supplying arms and ammunition to various gangsters and criminals in western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi-NCR for over a decade.
Wasim has admitted before the police that he supplied the pistol to Shahrukh Khan alias Pathan, who was found branding a loaded weapon on a policeman during the Delhi riots in Jaffrabad area in 2020, the DCP revealed. .
A video of Khan pointing a pistol at a policeman was widely shared on social media. Wasim absconded after the incident.
According to the police, Waseem has disclosed that he has supplied more than 250 firearms to criminals and arms smugglers in Delhi-NCR in the last two and a half years.
He was earlier found involved in seven criminal cases, including contract killing, murder resulting from a shootout and attempt to murder in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, PTI informed the police.
Notably, his role in supplying firearms to other rioters in the Delhi incident is also being investigated.
Clashes broke out in northeast Delhi on February 24, 2020 after violence between supporters of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and its protesters spiraled out of control, leaving at least 53 people dead and over 700 injured.
(with agency input)