The investigation into the shooting at businessman Vishal Beri’s residence in Gurugram’s Sushant Lok, which was followed by a police encounter, has revealed that three out of five weapons recovered from the slain shooters were not ordinary or illegal pistols, but state-of-the-art semi-automatic Chinese pistols. A reliable police source said that the three weapons were manufactured by the Chinese defence company, Norinco.
The police suspect these high-end firearms were smuggled into India by cross-border arms networks. Following the recovery of the foreign weapons, the police have intensified their investigation into international arms smuggling networks.
The name of another accused, Sandeep, a resident of Bahadurgarh has surfaced in the case. Police teams are conducting raids in Jhajjar and other locations to locate him. According to police sources, Sandeep provided logistical support to the accused. He is said to be a close associate of Deepak Nandal and an acquaintance of Nitin, one of the accused who was killed in the encounter. Meanwhile, Shivam, the shooter injured in the attack is currently undergoing treatment. A senior police officer said that they would question Shivam after his discharge from the hospital.
The recovery of Chinese weapons has added an international arms smuggling dimension to the probe. According to the police, the recovered pistols are of the Norinco PX-3 (NP762) model, also known as the PX-30 in the illegal arms market. They use a 17-round magazine and are considered to have high lethality. Investigating officers said that the price of a single pistol in the black market can range from Rs 8 to Rs 10 lakhs.
Investigative agencies believe that the foreign weapons may have been smuggled into India via Pakistan or Nepal. Recent seizures of similar weapons in Punjab and Delhi have reinforced the suspicion. The police are now conducting a thorough investigation into the arms supply chain, gangster networks and potential terrorist links.
“Three recovered weapons are foreign made semi-automatic pistols. Shooters are often unaware of the actual arms suppliers, making it challenging to reach the entire module. Currently, the police are working to connect every link in this network,” said a senior police official.
Four shooters from the Deepak Nandal gang were killed in police retaliation during a shooting incident at a businessman’s house in Phase 1 of Sushant Lok on Thursday. A fifth shooter, Shivam, a resident of Bissar village in Nuh, was injured in the encounter and admitted to Medanta Hospital for treatment. Three police personnel who were injured in the encounter were discharged from Medanta on Saturday.