Air India crew's murder: Noida police nabs another suspect after encounter, total arrests 5

The deceased Suraj Mann was the brother of gangster Pravesh Mann, who is lodged in a Delhi jail. The killing was a fall-out of a gang rivalry between Pravesh Mann and Kapil Mann, both belonging to the same Kheri Khurd village in Delhi and engaged in a dispute of prestige that started around 15 years ago.

Noida: The Noida Police have arrested a gangster allegedly involved in the day-light murder of an Air India crew member here after a gunfight on Tuesday morning, officials said.

The suspect had carried out recce before the killing of Suraj Mann near the Sector 104 market on January 19 and worked on instructions of jailed gangster Kapil Mann, according to the police.

Suraj, who worked for Air India, was the brother of gangster Pravesh Mann, who is also lodged in a jail in Delhi.

Suraj lived as a tenant in the posh Lotus Panache society here and was shot dead by three men who intercepted him while he was sitting in his car after the gym.

The police said the killing was a fall-out of a gang rivalry between Pravesh Mann and Kapil Mann, both belonging to the same Kheri Khurd village in Delhi and engaged in a dispute of prestige that started around 15 years ago.

The gang war has claimed five lives from both sides so far, they said.

“Around 7 am today, officials of Sector 39 police station were on patrol duty in Sector 43 and nearby areas when they saw a suspicious-looking man on a motorcycle. He was gestured to stop for inquiry but he opened fire at the police party. The man got injured in retaliatory firing by the police team," Additional DCP (Noida) Manish Kumar Mishra said.

The man was later identified as Naveen Sharma, a resident of Vijay Vihar in Delhi. He was wanted by the police in connection with the Suraj Mann murder case in Sector 104 here, and carried a reward of Rs 25,000, Mishra said.

"Sharma is an active member of the Kapil Mann gang. In 2021, he was jailed along with Kapil in connection with a murder case but came out of prison around a year ago and continued working for the gang,” the officer said.

“During interrogation today, he told police that he was the one who reconnoitred the area for the shooters who attacked Suraj and that he was working on instructions of Kapil," Mishra said.

The police said they have seized a country-made pistol along with some ammunition from Sharma's possession and impounded his motorcycle.

This is the fifth arrest in the case and the third by the Noida Police, who had nabbed two suspects— Dhiraj Mann and Arun alias Mannu Mann, from Delhi within 24 hours of the sensational shootout.

On January 22, the Delhi Police claimed to have arrested two more suspects in the case, revealing that it was a hit job ordered from inside the Tihar prison.

Those held by the Delhi Police were identified as Kuldeep of Delhi's Bhajanpura and Abdul Kadir of UP's Bijnor, who were held near Sarai Kale Khan bus stand following an exchange of fire between them and a team of Crime Branch.