Noida police have arrested a gangster suspected of involvement in the broad daylight murder of an Air India crew member following a shootout on Tuesday morning, officials said.

Police said the suspects conducted reconnaissance before the murder of Suraj Mann near Sector 104 market on January 19 and were working on the instructions of jailed gangster Kapil Mann.

Suraj, who worked for Air India, is the brother of gangster Pravesh Mann, who is also lodged in a Delhi jail. Suraj, a tenant at the posh Lotus Panache community there, was shot dead by three men who intercepted him as he sat in his car after leaving the gym.

Police said the killing was the result of gang rivalry between Pravesh Mann and Kapil Mann, both of whom belonged to the same Kheri Khurd village in Delhi and were involved in The reputation dispute began about 15 years ago. They say the gang war has so far claimed the lives of five people on both sides.

At around 7 o’clock this morning, officers from the 39th District Police Station saw a suspicious man riding a motorcycle while patrolling the 43rd District and nearby areas. He was motioned to stop and ask questions, but he fired at the police. The man was 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. Mishra said he was wanted by the police in connection with the Suraj Mann murder case in Sector 104 here and had a reward of Rs 25,000 on his head.

“Sharma was an active member of the Kapil Man gang. He was jailed along with Kapil in a murder case in 2021, but was released from jail about a year ago and continued to work for the gang,” the officer said. During interrogation, he told the police that he was the one who scouted the area for the gunmen who attacked Suraj and that he was working on Kapil’s instructions,” Mishra said.

Police said they seized a country-made pistol and some ammunition from Sharma’s possession and impounded his motorcycle.

This is the fifth arrest in the case and the third by Noida police, who nabbed two suspects from Delhi within 24 hours of the sensational shootout – Dilla Ji Mann (Dhiraj Mann) and Arun (aka Mannu Mann).

On January 22, the Delhi police claimed to have arrested two more suspects involved in the case, and revealed that this was a crackdown ordered from within Tihar Prison.

The persons detained by Delhi Police, identified as Kuldeep of Delhi’s Bhajanpura and Abdul Kadir of UP Bijnor, were lodged near Sarai Kale Khan bus stand after an exchange of fire with a team of the crime branch.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from associated news agency – PTI)