Angry lawyer opens fire as man parks car outside his house to play badminton match

The victim, Vedant Khodankar, also a Mayur Vihar resident, parked his vehicle in front of advocate Shyam Singh Chauhan’s house to play badminton in a park in the vicinity. When he returned, he found another car parked closely, blocking his exit, following which he approached its owner, Chauhan, to remove it. Chauhan allegedly refused and Khodankar lightly banged his car

A lawyer opened fire at a 23-year-old man in Mayur Vihar in East Delhi for having parked at his spot in front of his home, police said on Saturday, adding that the target escaped unhurt but a bullet went through his vehicle, leading them to file an attempted murder charge.

The victim escaped unhurt. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The incident, which occurred in Pocket E of Mayur Vihar on April 14 around 10pm, spotlights a growing behavioural concern in the metropolis where congested lanes and limited parking spaces in residential areas have often caused trivial parking disputes to turn into life-threatening violence.

In 2023, Delhi Police received 7,328 calls of violent disputes over parking, beating the cumulative of 3,367 in 2022 and 2,413 in 2021. There were multiple injuries and three deaths from parking disputes.

In the latest case, police said the accused — 38-year-old Shyam Singh Chauhan — was sent to judicial custody, having been arrested on April 16. Chauhan opened fire at Vedant Khodankar, also a Mayur Vihar resident, who parked his car in front of the former’s house when he arrived in the neighbourhood for a game of badminton.

When he returned, he found another car parked closely, blocking his exit, Khodankar told police. He asked Chauhan to remove it, who refused, and as he attempted to get in his vehicle, he left a dent in Chauhan’s black SUV.

“He started abusing me and I abused back. Hot words were exchanged,” Khodankar said, according to the FIR.

Chauhan then returned with a gun, and as Khodankar and his friend got in the car to leave, the lawyer opened fire, sending a bullet through the rear window of the vehicle.

Deputy commissioner of police (east) Apoorva Gupta said based on the complaint, a case under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Arms Act was registered and Chauhan was arrested on April 16.

“The team conducted a raid at the house from which the gunshot was fired and arrested the accused, who was in a hurry to leave his house with the weapon to evade arrest,” Gupta said.

A licensed gun, three live cartridges and an empty cartridge were recovered. The gun’s licence was found to be valid, she said.

Chauhan has studied LLM and runs his own law firm named Singh & Company Law Firm, police said.