New Delhi, February 10 A day after a businessman was shot dead by gunmen in the Bawana industrial area here, a social media post purportedly issued in the name of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the killing.
Multiple teams have been formed to verify the authenticity of the post and track the assailants, while the scope of the investigation has been widened to examine angles of extortion and organized crime links, police said.
According to a post made by an account with the username "Randeep Malik Anil Pandit", the killing was carried out on behalf of Lawrence Bishnoi, Jitender Gogi Maan, Hashim Baba, and Kala Rana gangs.
It alleged that the victim, Vaibhav Gandhi, was "interfering" in the gangs' activities.
The post, in both Hindi and English, further stated that this incident was a warning that anyone who obstructed their operations would be eliminated without prior notice.
Gandhi, a 35-year-old plastic granules manufacturer, was shot dead on Monday afternoon near his factory in Bawana, police said.
The shooting took place around 12:51 pm when he was standing outside his factory with a laptop bag. Preliminary investigation suggests that three motorcycle-borne assailants approached him and attempted to snatch the bag, they said.
"When the victim tried to escape, the assailants chased him for about 40 to 50 metres and fired multiple rounds. One bullet struck him in the chin, causing him to collapse," a senior police officer said.
The attackers fled the scene with the victim's belongings. Gandhi was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead, police said.
Multiple teams have been constituted to investigate the case. The teams are examining CCTV footage from the Bawana industrial area to identify the shooters and reconstruct their escape route, they said.
Police are also analysing the digital footprint of the social media accounts mentioned in the post -- Randeep Malik and Anil Pandit USA -- to ascertain their origin and links to known gang members, officials said.
They said the Special Cell has been roped in due to the alleged involvement of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which has been linked to several killings across the country.
In one such case last month, Delhi Police arrested two alleged shooters of the gang after an encounter in the Burari area.
The duo was involved in firing at a gym in outer Delhi's Paschim Vihar and at the residence of a businessman in east Delhi as part of an extortion racket. No one was injured in the two incidents.
Soon after the firings, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility in a social media post.
According to the post, wanted criminal Randeep Malik carried out the firing along with Anil Pandit.
