The fire was preceded by a blast and soon it spread to nearby buildings, including a drug rehabilitation centre and eight shops.
Thirty-year-old Jitendra Mann 'Gogi', who was shot dead in a crowded Rohini court room on Friday, was one of Delhi's most wanted criminals and the chief of an "extremely sophisticated" organised crime syndicate.
With protesting farmers seeking to march to the national capital, security remained tight on Wednesday with personnel deployed in huge numbers and barricades regulating movement in central Delhi and at border points with Haryana, which can cause hardships to commuters.
The similar modus operandi in all these murders has led the police to suspect the involvement of gangsters, the officer further said.
A young woman from Haryana's Rohtak who had gone to Canada last year to pursue higher studies was allegedly murdered and buried in a field in Sonipat by her lover in June 2022 when she came to meet him.
A land-owning class, the Jats are a powerful community and account for 28 per cent of Haryana's population. The time, they believe, has now come for them to take revenge.
Haryana Police lobbed tear gas shells at farmers from Punjab at Shambhu border between the two states as thousands of protesters stayed put there on Wednesday, the second day of their 'Delhi Chalo' march.
A voter turnout of 10.82 per cent was recorded till 9 am on Saturday in 58 constituencies in six states and two Union territories where polling is underway in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
The protesting farmers huddled in small groups to discuss the repercussions of the killing. They also maintained a distance from the journalists who went to Singhu border to cover the incident.
Labour rights activist Naudeep Kaur was freed Friday by the Punjab and Haryana high court, which said slapping charges like attempt to murder on her is a 'debatable issue' to be considered at a later stage in the trial.
The Haryana Police has told the Punjab and Haryana HC that the section on gang rape had been added to the FIR in the case.
Two persons, including the main accused Sumit, who is also a Dalit, have been sent to seven days in police remand.
The Aam Aadmi Party will fight the 2024 Haryana assembly polls on its own, its state unit vice-president Anurag Dhanda said on Friday, saying the party has a complete organisational structure ready and will soon announce its village-level committees too.
Amid a raging row, two police officers were on Friday booked on charges of murder of a 15-year-old Dalit youth in Sonipat even as Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar claimed that he had committed suicide and had not died in police custody as alleged by his family.
"Stop dreaming of opening the borders," Chaduni told the government while addressing a "Kisan Mahapanchayat" at Kurukshetra's Ismailabad, adjoining Punjab's Patiala district.
Two assistant sub-inspectors were on Friday booked in connection with a Dalit boy's death allegedly in police custody in Devipura village here even as his family claimed that police had demanded money for his release.
The Delhi Police have registered an FIR against organisers of the wrestlers' protest and their supporters for violating law and order in connection with the scuffle that broke out at Jantar Mantar on Sunday.
A 9 mm pistol along with 10 live cartridges, a 30 mm pistol with nine live cartridges, three police uniforms of Punjab Police and two mobile handsets along with a dongle and SIM card have been seized from their possession, police said.
The constable, a resident of Sonipat in Haryana, was posted at the Bharat Nagar Police Station in northwest Delhi, police said. He lived with a colleague at a rented house in Gandhi Vihar area.
The status report, filed before a division bench of justices S K Mittal and H S Sidhu, "denied the charges of molestation and gangrape during the intervening night of February 22/23 at Murthal in Sonipat district."
A handwritten note in Punjabi, purportedly left behind by the deceased, says he was unable to bear the "pain of farmers".
Her name has been included in the same FIR in which other Dera functionaries Aditya Insan and Surinder Dhiman, among others, had been booked for allegedly inciting violence and arson, police said.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea filed by residents of Sonipat seeking opening of the roads connecting Delhi and Haryana at Singhu border here, which have been blocked by farmers protesting against three agri laws and asked the petitioners to approach the High Court.
A 45-year-old farmer from Punjab, who was a part of the protest against the Centre's farm laws, allegedly hanged himself from a tree near the Singhu border, the police said on Wednesday.
Top Indian grapplers Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Satyawart Kaidyan and Jitender Kinha all tied black bands on their forehead.
Actor and activist Deep Sidhu, accused of being the key conspirator of the Red Fort violence on Republic Day last year, died in a road accident on Kundli-Manesar-Palwal highway near Kharkhoda in Haryana's Sonipat, police said.
'The law is neither able nor willing to function the way the legal machinery is envisaged.'
Farmers protesting the Centre's three farm laws on Saturday blocked the six-lane Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway at some places in Haryana to mark the completion of 100 days of their agitation at the Delhi borders.
The accused has been identified as Nonu, police said, adding the stolen items have been recovered.
A police officer said that during the investigation names of two suspects residing in Pakistan and Germany, both from banned Sikh organisations, have emerged.
The state government has ordered an inquiry into the matter.
The deceased were identified as Shamsher Singh (around 45 years of age), a resident of Lidhra village in Punjab's Sangrur district, Jashandeep Singh (18), a resident of Chauke village in Punjab's Bathinda district, and Jagbir Singh (60), a resident of Jind in Haryana, the police said.
Road and rail traffic was partially affected in some regions on Monday during a 'Bharat bandh' called against the Agnipath military recruitment scheme, while protests appeared to taper off in many states, with authorities stepping up security and imposing curbs after days of unrest.
Kaur is facing three cases that include charges of attempt to murder and extortion. She is a member of the Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan and a resident of Giadarh village in Punjab's Muktsar district.
In Bihar, where a bandh had been called, a railway station and a police vehicle were torched, an ambulance attacked and security personnel injured in stone-pelting incidents on the fourth consecutive day of the agitation, while protesters vandalised Ludhiana railway station in Punjab and blocked roads and rail tracks in West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
During enquiry, it was found that a quarrel had taken place allegedly between Sushil Kumar, Ajay, Prince Dalal, Sonu, Sagar, Amit Kumar, and others in the parking area of the Chhatrasal Stadium in North Delhi.
'At 23, he has experienced what very few of his age have: Poverty at home, a stint in jail for his student activism.' 'His experience told him that if you want your rights, you have to fight for them.'
The government should consider the farmers' demands sympathetically, Raut told reporters in Mumbai.
Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the farmers who broke barricades in some places in Haryana.
The deceased, Ashish Dahiya, was a resident of Sonipat, Haryana and was attending a pool side party with friends from the Indian foreign and revenue services.