Bizman shot dead in East Delhi likely killed in case of mistaken identity: Cops

The victim, Sunil Jain, was heading back home after a morning walk at the Yamuna Sports Complex when he was shot six to seven times

A day after a 52-year-old businessman was shot dead at a traffic signal at Vishwas Nagar, the Delhi Police on Sunday said that prima facie, the murder seems to be a case of mistaken identity — the assailants are suspected to be gangsters who thought that they were eliminating a rival.

Police at the shooting site at Vishwas Nagar in New Delhi on Saturday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

No arrests were made till late on Sunday evening, police said.

Sunil Jain, a utensils businessman, was headed back home to Krishna Nagar on a scooter with his friend Sumit (identified only by his first name) riding a pillion when two assailants pulled up beside their vehicle at the Vishwas Nagar traffic signal and shot him five-six times.

Police said that Jain’s murder could be linked to a double murder in nearby Farsh Bazar on October 31, when 40-year-old Akash Sharma and his 16-year-old nephew were shot dead.

Investigators said they have apprehended a 17-year-old in connection with the double murder, and that the teenager claimed that Sharma had failed to pay him a ₹70,000 fee for killing a rival gangster.

A senior investigator probing Saturday’s murder, quoting Sumit’s testimony, said that moments before the two assailants opened fire, one of them asked whether Jain was the 17-year-old’s father.

To be sure, Jain and the 17-year-old are not connected.

“Before Jain could reply, the hitmen started firing. During probe and analysis of CCTVs, we found that one of the shooters is linked to the Hashim Baba gang,” the investigator said, on condition of anonymity.

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A senior police officer said that they questioned Jain’s family and friends, and do not suspect that he was killed over any personal enmity, or that he was being extorted by gangs.

“The assailants who killed Jain probably mistook him for the teenager’s father since both go to Yamuna Sports Complex for a morning walk,” the investigator quoted above said.

Another officer said that police teams have been dispatched to Ghaziabad and Meerut as investigators suspect that the two assailants may have fled to these Uttar Pradesh cities after murdering Jain.