Bollywood actor Rahimuddin Hasmi, also known as Imran Hasmi, has been arrested for murder and robbery. The 26-year-old was arrested in Vasant Vihar in South Delhi. He had a pistol and some cartridges on him. Earlier, he had escaped from police custody whilst being transferred to court in Ghaziabad.
“He has acted in the Hindi films Veer, My Friend Ganesha Part-2, Billu and many other movies,” said DCP Dhaliwal of the Delhi Police, “Hasmi in his interrogation revealed that he is involved in two murder cases and escaped from the custody of Uttar Pradesh Police and Delhi Police.”
After leaving school and spending a short time in a fireworks factory, Rahimuddin drifted into gangsterism, allegedly killing a rival – Zulfikar – in 2003, a case that is still pending. To support his Bollywood ambitions, he started a business providing fireworks for weddings and parties. A second murder is said to have followed in 2009 and it was while being escorted to court in connection with that case, that he made his escape last year. “The arrest came following a tip-off that a criminal carrying a reward on his head would be coming to the mall to meet one of his associates,” explained DCP Dhaliwal, “We spotted him near the mall, after which he started moving towards the main road. Police asked him to stop but instead of stopping, he started running and took out a pistol, threatening to shoot at the police team but we managed to overpower and apprehended him.”