A 40-year-old man and his 16 year old nephew were shot dead while his 15-year-old son was injured for revenge after two armed men opened fire outside their residence while they were celebrating Diwali in Delhi's Shahdara.
According to the police on Friday, the juvenile, who was a distant relative to the deceased, has been apprehended in the matter. In a video surfacing on social media, two men are seen in yellow kurta who were celebrating the festival outside their house in Farsh Bazar area when two men wearing white t-shirts, with one of them riding a scooty, came there and touched Akash Sharma alias Chottu’s feet. When Akash tried going inside his house, one of the men furnished his gun and shot him in the chest.
According to a senior police officer, while Akash and his teenage nephew Rishabh Sharma were killed in the incident, his son Krish Sharma sustained bullet injuries around upper to right elbow. DCP Shahdara Prashant Gautam said, "On receiving a PCR call at 8:23 pm, a police team was dispatched. The team found blood at the spot and it was known that the three injured persons were taken to Kailash Deepak Hospital.”
Akash Sharma's son Krish and nephew Rishabh, who were standing nearby, were also hit by bullets. While Akash and Rishabh were declared dead by doctors at the hospital, Krish is undergoing treatment. A case has been registered on the statement of a 16 year old Yash Sharma, who is Akash’s son, who stated that the accused have given life threats to the deceased previously as well.
“As per the statement, he along with both the deceased and injured Krish Sharma was celebrating Diwali outside their house when their distant relative came there on a scooty, at the same time a person wearing a mask also came there. The juvenile asked that person to kill Akash and that person whipped out a pistol and fired shots at the three persons.
Then both of them ran away from the spot,” the DCP claimed.
According to the police, it seems to be a case of personal enmity. “On interrogation he disclosed, Akash Sharma had promised to give him Rs 70,000/- but later on he refused to pay the said amount.
The CCL wanted to take revenge from Akash as the latter had not paid the amount, so he contacted his friends for killing Akash,” Gautam said.
The FIR reveals that the accused has come to the house for the last three days and on the eve of Diwali, he came there around 7 pm. “A call was also also received on my father’s phone by the accused’s father who threatened my father that it is a matter of time, we will surely take revenge,” it stated. An FIR under section 103 (punishment for murder), 109 (Attempt to murder), 351(3) (Criminal intimidation) and 3(5) of BNS was registered.
The police recovered five empty cartridges, one live round and four bullet lead from the spot. “Statements of the victims' family members will be recorded and further investigations are underway,” they added.
Meanwhile, following a double murder, the ruling AAP questioned the BJP's handling of law and order, accusing the central government's inaction as a contributing factor.
In a press conference, senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj expressed concerns, alleging the worsening law and order situation in Delhi. "Due to the collapsed law and order situation in the city, two people celebrating Diwali were murdered in public last night. If the BJP had put efforts into improving the law and order situation, then murders, gang wars, and looting would not be taking place every day," Bharadwaj said.
"The BJP has to answer how the situation got so severe in the national capital. This could not have happened without the nod of the central government," he said.
He added that cases of snatching have also exceeded all limits, with women now avoiding carrying phones and wearing gold ornaments in public.
Bharadwaj further said that even the French Ambassador fell victim to pickpocketing in the national capital of the country, underscoring concerns despite the installation of CCTV cameras across Delhi.
