A 34-year-old auto dealer was shot dead, while his associate was seriously injured in the posh MP Nagar locality in daylight on Thursday.
The incident created panic in the whole area and it took hours to normalise the situation. However, before the police reached the spot, the miscreants had managed to flee.
The incident took place right in front of hotel Amer Palace at around 2.30 pm. The deceased Preetpal Singh Bagga alias Goldy along with his three partners — Ejaz, Nimesh and his wife Sapna had gone to MP Nagar, at Unique autodeal owned by Shujat Ali, for arbitration in connection with dispute related to Swift car dealing.
One Anoop Pratap Singh of Satna had some time ago approached Shujat asking to sell his Swift car. later, the deal was finalised in `4 lakh with Sapna. At the time of payment, Anoop had stated that the car was hypotheticated with a bank and a loan of `1 lakh remained on it.
However, after the final deal, when Sapna and her partners approached the RTO office, it was found that the car still bears a loan of `5 lakh. On this, they demanded Anoop to return the cash and cancel the deal. However, he refused to return the cash.
Following this, in March, 2013, Sapna had approached Aishbagh police station demanding her cash back. After negotiation, Anoop had handed over a cheque of `3.50 lakh to Sapna, but it got dishonoured.
Since then the dispute continued between both the parties. On Thursday, Shujat had invited both the parties to come to his shop and settle the issue. Sapna had come with her three partners, while Anoop was accompanied by five persons including Kuldeep. During the discussion, a dispute occurred between both the parties and one of Anoop’s associates opened fire on Nimesh, but the bullet missed the target. Infuriated with this, Goldy took out his katar and attacked Anoop, but before Goldy could reach him, Anoop took out a pistol and opened two rounds of fire. One bullet hit Goldy in the chest, while the other hit Ejaz in the waist.
Soon after committing the crime, Anoop and his associated fled the scene. Goldy and Ejaz were immediately rushed to Narmada hospital, where Goldy was declared dead, while Ejaz is undergoing treatment. The police have registered a case under sections 302 and 307 of the IPC and launched a hunt for the miscreants. Shujat Ali has been detained for interrogation.