New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) A 38-year-old online fitness trainer was apprehended from a Pondicherry hotel for allegedly assaulting a gym owner in central Delhi and destroying CCTV evidence, police said on Monday.
On August 13, a complaint was filed at Rajinder Nagar Police Station by a local gym owner, who alleged that on August 5, his client Vikas Solanki had abused and threatened to kill him, they said.
"On August 11, Solanki, along with Rahul alias Pankaj Choudhary and several associates armed with a pistol, revolver, rods, and sticks, barged into the complainant's gym, assaulted him and attempted to destroy CCTV evidence by stealing the DVR," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Nidhin Valsan said.
While Solanki was arrested earlier, the others went into hiding.
Police carried out extensive investigations across Delhi, Bengaluru and Pondicherry, and made several raids in Delhi-NCR, but the accused kept changing locations.
The trail revealed that Choudhary fled to Bengaluru then moved to Pondicherry.
Acting on intelligence inputs, a team raided a hotel in Saint Martin, Pondicherry, on August 29 and apprehended him.
During questioning, Choudhary admitted to being the principal assailant and revealed that he had procured a black air gun which looks like a real pistol from Sadar Bazar to intimidate people.
Police later recovered the weapon from his residence.
Choudhary has a long criminal history with at least five cases registered against him, including one of murder in 2012 at Ranjit Nagar Police Station, the officer said.
Other charges he was found to be booked under were illegal weapon possession, assault, and criminal intimidation.