A 45-year-old man was killed and four others, including his son, were injured in northeast Delhi’s Bhajanpura chowk area on Tuesday morning when four men in a car opened fire at them.
According to a senior police official, the incident occurred around 8.15 am when four men in a car (Maruti Swift) waylaid the father and son, who were on a motorcycle. The father, Kailash Gupta, who was a property dealer succumbed to his injuries while his son, Rajan Gupta, in his 20s, is critically injured and admitted at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. Police claimed to have identified the men but did not disclose their identity as it might hamper further investigation.
Kailash stayed in Harsh Bazaar area near to the place of the incident. As a routine, Kailash and his son had gone to a nearby park for morning walk. After finishing their exercise, they stopped at a juice shop before heading home.
“Right then four unidentified men in a white Maruti Swift slowed down at shooting range in front of them and two of them held out guns and started shooting at Kailash and his son,” said a official privy to the investigation in possession of the CCTV footage of the area.
“The assailants waited till they saw Kailash collapse on the ground but then started their car when Rajan started screaming in pain. When they could not shoot Rajan anymore they started shooting indiscriminately all around in order to create panic,” said the official.
While the accused were on a shooting spree, one bullet hit the leg of a rickshaw driver identified as Ramlaxman(50), who was sitting in a tea shop. Another passerby, identified as Banwari (40) also received bullet injuries to his left thigh and fell down. The assailants then pulled their weapons inside the car, picked up speed and hit another person Javed (34), when they saw that he was running away. All the three were taken to GTB Hospital for treatment, said police.
A police source said the suspicion is on Sunil Pehlwan, who is another property dealer and had a long standing rivalry with Kailash regarding a plot of land in Bhajanpura.
“In December 2014, Sunil Pehlwan had murdered Vishal Gupta, who was the eldest son of Kailash, regarding the same property dispute. An FIR had been lodged against Pehalwan then. Our full suspicion lies with him but cannot say anything till we have any evidence,” said the source.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Karan Gupta, another son of Kailash said, “My father’s birthday is on June 23 and we had planned a family lunch. My mother Sonam became unconscious on hearing the news of my father’s death.”“We have registered an FIR at Gokalpuri Police Station against the accused under Sections 302, 307 and 34 of IPC and further investigations are on,” said the official. Kailash is survived by his wife Sonam and two sons.