Contract killer nabbed in Delhi transwoman murder case

A wanted criminal was arrested in connection with the alleged contract killing of a transwoman in the GTB Enclave area in September last year. Police said that a rival faction had given Rs 55 lakh to the criminals for the contract killing.

New Delhi: A notorious criminal has been arrested by Delhi police on Monday in connection with the alleged contract killing of a 40-year-old transwoman in the GTB Enclave area in September last year.

The accused has been identified as Gagan Pandit of Paschim Bihar and police said that the former is the prime accused, who conspired to kill the transwoman by taking Rs 55 lakhs from a rival faction of the deceased's group.

Earlier, police had arrested the two shooters who killed the transwoman, Ekta Joshi on September 5 last year.

Later, interrogating the duo, they revealed that one Manzoor Elahi, a member of a group of transgenders, had approached Gagan Pandit for killing Ekta Joshi and her stepmother Anita Joshi, the rival faction members, and also agreed to pay Rs 55 lakh for the contract killings.

As per the instructions of prime accused Pandit, Aamir Ghazi and his aide killed Joshi near the GTB Enclave area. On the day of the incident, the two shooters rode on a scooter towards Joshi’s car and fired as soon as she got off. The crime, which was caught on a CCTV camera, had created ripples. And Pandit went underground after the incident.

After getting reliable inputs, a team led by DCP Brajesh Singh and inspector Ravindra Kumar laid a trap near Nirankari Samagam ground in Delhi and arrested the accused Pandit.

Gagan Pandit was carrying a reward of Rs. 1,00,000 as declared by the Delhi Police. Ekta Joshi, a native of Uttarakhand was staying with Anita, another transgender in the GTB Enclave area.

Sources said that Anita had also adopted three children, still school going kids. Since the attackers were wearing the helmets, Police earlier suspected it to be a case of personal enmity. The rivalry between them was on the issue of domination of the area in Trans-Yamuna for collecting money from the people on social occasions.

Meanwhile, police have launched a manhunt to nab other accused who were involved in the crime and further investigations are underway.