“It was like Diwali for two minutes, with gunshots going off like firecrackers”: Survivor

Ghaziabad: Brijpal Teotia’s aides and private gunners, recuperating from their injuries in the ICU of a private hospital in Ghaziabad, told TOI their convoy, comprising two Scorpio SUVs, was waylaid on the Rawli road at around 7.20pm on Thursday. Eyewitnesses recalled there were up to 18 assailants, and they were travelling in a couple of Fortuner SUVs.
Teotia was on the navigator’s seat of the Scorpio leading the way.In the next row, sat his close aide, Indrapal Singh, behind driver Mohan, with gunman Ashok sitting behind Teotia. Another gunman, Rampal, was seated in the rear. The other Scorpio, keeping slightly behind the first and to its left, had driver Bablu and three gunmen — Mokam Singh Malik in the navigator’s seat, with Vipin behind Mokam and Sushil behind Bablu in the second row.
Indrapal Singh told this TOI correspondent in the ICU of Sarvodaya Hospital near Diamond flyover in Kavi Nagar, that the encounter was over in less than two minutes. “It was like Diwali for two minutes, with gunshots going off like firecrackers. A Fortuner overtook our vehicles from the left and screeched to a halt in front of our Scorpio, blocking the road. Eight people emerged from it and began firing at us indiscriminately. Brijpal Teotia’s first reaction was to shout that gunshots were being fired. He asked us all to take cover by ducking down. I was struck by a bullet even as I took my pistol out for protection. However, I still got down from the right door and began firing back, even as I took two more hits to my body,” Singh told TOI.
Meanwhile, the second Fortuner had come to a stop behind the first Scorpio, blocking any chance of reversing. The assailants in it began firing at Singh from behind. By then, Teotia’s gunmen in the second Scorpio began responding with retaliatory fire. When they came under fire from the second Scorpio, the assailants fled from the spot.
“We don’t have any idea whether the Fortuners were following us. One of the vehicles fled in the direction of Surana, the other towards NH-58. Fortunately, none of our drivers were seriously injured. I tried calling the police control room, but my calls did not get through. I called up Teotia’s younger brother Vikas, and informed him of the encounter. Teotia asked us to drive straight to Sarvodaya Hospital,” added Singh.
By the time they had reached the hospital, three of Teotia’s gunmen had fallen unconscious.
On Friday, police undertook a massive combing operation to trace the Fortuners, ultimately finding one of them abandoned in the Niwadi area. Locals in the Rawli-Surana area have told police that two Fortuners had made several rounds of their villages during Thursday afternoon in a suspicious manner.