NEW DELHI: Around 2.30pm on Monday,

from Punjabi Bagh police station rushed to Madipur in west Delhi where a 26-year-old contractor had been shot at. The injured, Ghulam Sabir, had already been taken to a hospital and was undergoing treatment.

At the spot, policemen were told that a man, who had personal enmity with Sabir, had shot him at his house and fled. An FIR was lodged and investigation initiated.

Probe led the officers to a man who was friends with Sabir’s ex-girlfriend. Sabir also confirmed the theory alleging that that the man, identified as Puneet, had objected to his relationship with the girl and had shot him when he refused to part ways with her. Cops then started scanning CCTV footage from the area and detained their suspect, Puneet.

However, several contradictions soon started emerging in the story narrated by Sabir. Not only did the CCTV footage disprove his claims, but Sabir’s whereabouts, as shown in technical surveillance, were also different from what he had said.

Finding something amiss, cops cross-examined Sabir. He broke down and revealed that he had staged the shooting with the help of his friends and concocted the story of an attack to implicate Puneet.

Sabir disclosed that he was outraged with Puneet’s proximity to the woman he was in love with. The woman had broken up with Sabir a few months ago and had started dating Puneet.

However, he could not come to terms with the break up and had been continuously pursuing the woman. On August 26, Sabir called Puneet to his house for a meeting and tried to convince him to stay away from her. However, Puneet refused and walked away.

Seething with anger, Sabir whipped out a pistol and asked his friends — Azharuddin and Pradyumn — to shoot him. They shot him in the waist after which he was taken to Guru Govind Singh Hospital. On the way, they called up the cops and made up the story.

Police have arrested the three men and recovered the pistol used in crime, along with three live cartridges.