NEW DELHI: Gangster-turned businessman Nadir Shah was gunned down in full public view outside a gym in GK-I last September. The special cell of Delhi Police investigated the case. However, some startling facts emerged as the probe proceeded, making the case murkier.
It was revealed that two officers from the counterintelligence unit of the special cell met Nadir Shah in the first week of September, days before he was killed. Interestingly, two senior officers of the special cell — DCP Pratiksha Godara and ACP Hriday Bhushan — were present close to the gym just a day before the murder, sources said.
What may appear to be “coincidences” didn’t end here. A few men from special cell were inside the gym at the time of the murder and were caught on CCTV even as another special cell team was 50m away.
GK police not allowed to probe Nadir Shah case
With so many Special Cell cops — supposedly among the best in Delhi Police — standing in the vicinity of the gym, two petty criminals managed to stand in E block for over 30 minutes with weapons and eventually gunned down Shah in full public view. They then escaped with ease.
Interestingly, the Greater Kailash police from South district, which should have ideally probed a murder in its jurisdiction, was kept at bay from the beginning and the special cell was asked to take up the investigation. When questioned, Delhi Police argued that the meeting of counterintelligence officers with Nadir Shah before the murder was for another case and that the DCP and ACP were visiting the area in another case pertaining to a security threat to a “protected” entity.
When asked why the Special Cell was allowed to investigate the case when it was a clear case of conflict of interest, Delhi Police argued that the team which developed intelligence pertaining to the threat to the “protected” person was best suited to investigate the murder of Nadir Shah. Two former police commissioners and a retired senior officer of the unit said that given the developments, Shah’s killing should have been ideally probed by the Crime Branch if not the local police.
Many of the cops who figured in these instances were quietly transferred out of the cell on Thursday. Twenty inspectors and 23 sub-inspectors featured in the list of outgoing cops from the cell. Delhi Police responded to TOI’s queries in this regard. TOI: Two officers from the counter-intelligence unit directly under the control of Manishi Chandra, OSD to the police commissioner, met Nadir Shah before the murder. Why?
Delhi Police: The CI Unit arrested an accused in a sensitive investigation. Based on the revelations made by the said arrested and chargesheeted accused, personnel of the CI unit met Nadir Shah (since deceased) to verify certain facts pertaining to the said investigation in the first week of Sept 2024. This was totally unrelated to the investigation carried out by the New Delhi Range post the murder of Nadir Shah, which took place at a later point of time.
(When TOI asked a senior Special Cell officer if this case was related to former intelligence officer Vikash Yadav, he said he would not comment on a sensitive case. Yadav’s case was investigated by the counter-intelligence unit around a year before Shah’s murder.)
TOI: Besides a few members of the cell inside the gym who were caught on CCTV too, there was another team near the gym which claims to have chased the shooters. How was a second team there and why did the murder still happen?
Delhi Police: It is correct that two personnel from NDR (New Delhi Range) were present at the gym owing to their personal rapport with the victim. Regarding the presence of the so-called ‘second team’, i.e., other personnel from NDR, it is true that they were present in the area, based on leads generated by technical and human surveillance; however, no input pertaining to precise location was available till that point of time.
When asked why a DCP and ACP were in the area just a day before the murder, additional commissioner (Special Cell) Pramod Kushwaha said: “The said officers were working on an operation wherein a protected person of Uttar Pradesh was understood to be a target. Since suspect tele-selectors were found to be active in the areas of Jamia and GK-1, the officers had been visiting these areas in an attempt to identify probable locations/CCTV trails which could be of assistance in the operation.” Multiple officers from the special cell, however, rubbished this claim, saying these things are, if at all, routinely carried out by junior level cops.
“It is categorically denied that anyone from the operational team, including the above-said officers, visited the gym operated by deceased Nadir Shah at any point of time before the unfortunate incident happened. This is particularly relevant because there was no information/input, of any kind, regarding the said gym with the operational team,” Kushwaha said. Multiple sources within the cell, however, said that there was evidence to prove that there was prior information about the case.
On reports that two special cell officers met the shooters in a hotel in Paharganj before the murder, Kushwaha said: “It is untrue and does not relate to any of the activities undertaken by the operational team involved in the operation/subsequent investigation of the murder of Nadir Shah.” “The investigation was carried out on merits and a charge-sheet in the matter was submitted before the court,” said the police.