Four-year-old shot dead by father’s rivals in Pataudi

A four-year-old boy was shot dead by four armed assailants, who had a personal rivalry with his father, in Pataudi on Wednesday night, the police said. The father was also shot at and is in a critical condition, undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Rewari, the police said.

A four-year-old boy was shot dead by four armed assailants, who had a personal rivalry with his father, in Pataudi on Wednesday night, the police said. The father was also shot at and is in a critical condition, undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Rewari, the police said.

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The four suspects, identified as Harish, Naveen, Paramjeet and Yaman of Rewari, were arrested on Thursday from Jatshahpur. They were produced before a district court and taken on two-day police remand.

A case under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Arms Act was registered against them at the Pataudi police station.

Preet Pal Sangwan, the assistant commissioner of police (crime), said that Parveen Kumar, a resident of Khalilpur village, was having a feud with a man identified as Harish Kumar since the last month after they argued over drinks. Last week, Parveen assaulted Harish in public. “Harish threatened Parveen of dire consequences and was looking for an opportunity to take revenge. His friends arranged for weapons and they planned to kill him on Wednesday,” he said.

“They found Parveen in the outer area of the village and shot at him. Assuming him to be dead, they went to his house and shot at his son who was playing in the open area near the house. Two of them fired several gunshots at the boy and one bullet hit him on the chest,” he said.

Hearing gunshots, locals and relatives of the two victims gathered at their house and arranged for a vehicle to take both of them to the hospital. Doctors declared the boy brought dead and Parveen critical.

“They opened fire only on my son. They did not harm me even though I was sitting nearby. They intended to kill my son,” said Bharti, the boy’s mother.

Sangwan said, “The assailants had the intention to kill the father and the son. We suspect a personal rivalry behind the killing. It appears that the family is not sharing complete information with us. We will seek more information during the remand.”

A forensic team visited the crime spot on Thursday and empty cartridges were retrieved from the spot. The police said that they were seeking information from neighbours about the rivalry.