NEW DELHI, July 5: A firing incident was reported in the Tis Hazari court premises here on Wednesday, police said, adding that two groups of lawyers were allegedly involved in opening fire.
No one was injured in the incident, they said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said, “A firing incident took place around 1.35 pm on Wednesday in the Tis Hazari court. When police reached the spot, it was learned that two different groups of lawyers, including office bearers, had allegedly shot in the air and no one was injured.”
In a video of the incident being circulated on social media, a person can be seen firing in the air, while others are throwing stones and wooden planks.
The two groups, mostly in white shirts, were carrying sticks and also hurled abuses at each other.
In another video, bullet shells could be seen on the spot where shots were fired.
The situation is now normal and legal action is being initiated. Joint Commissioner of Police (central range) Parmaditya also reached the spot, police said.
“An incident of firing took place in Tis Hazari Court. We have recovered five empty rounds. The firing took place between two factions of lawyers. The Forensic Science Laboratory team is at the spot, and a thorough investigation would be conducted,” Parmaditya said.
Another officer said the initial investigation suggested that the incident took place over personal enmity between the office bearers of the Delhi Bar Association.
Teams are investigating and police are trying to identify the people, but no one has been detained till now. It is not known whether the arms were licensed or not, they added.
Taking swift action, the Bar Council of Delhi on Wednesday suspended advocate Manish Sharma’s license to practice law with immediate effect for his alleged involvement in the broad-daylight firing incident in a lawyers’ chamber block of the court.
The license to practice as an advocate of Sharma, a senior vice-president of the Delhi Bar Association of the Tis Hazari courts here, was suspended with immediate effect, the BCD said.
The letter, signed by the office secretary Col Arun Sharma (Retd) of the BCD, directed Sharma to submit a written explanation and appear before it this Friday, failing which an ex-parte action would be initiated against him for his alleged involvement in the incident.
On April 21, a 49-year-old debarred lawyer fired four rounds at a woman and wounded her in the Saket court complex in south Delhi. A man who works as a ‘munshi’ in the court was also injured in the firing that occurred around 10.30 am.
Police had said the suspended lawyer, Kameshwar Singh alias Manoj Singh, a resident of Durga Ashram in Chhatarpur, was arrested from a house in Faridabad.
Singh had filed a case of cheating against the woman and her lawyer Rajendra Jha over a monetary dispute involving Rs 25 lakh.
In September 2021, jailed gangster Jitendra Gogi was shot dead by two men posing as lawyers inside a crowded Rohini courtroom. (PTI)
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