Just 10 metres separate the homes of the Tiwari and Shukla families in Saadatganj, but a bloodbath allegedly sparked by a parking dispute and a battle for local dominance has left three members of one family dead. As the Tiwaris were cremated amid heavy police deployment and the cries of grieving relatives on Tuesday, neighbours struggled to come to terms with how childhood friendships and years of closeness had given way to deadly hostility.
The firing claimed the lives of Shivaji Tiwari, his businessman son Shivendra Tiwari and another family member, Suyash Tiwari.
Locals recalled that the relationship between the families went beyond being neighbours. The Tiwari family had helped the Shuklas establish themselves when they were less financially secure, residents said. “However, a neighbourhood dispute, growing bitterness and a contest for local influence strained ties between the two families.”
Shivaji Tiwari, a retired secretariat employee, was relatively well-off, locals said.
The families had watched their children grow up in the same neighbourhood, their homes separated by just a few steps. Thirty-year-old Shivesh Tiwari, who was preparing to get married, shared a childhood friendship with Rishabh Shukla, the accused in Monday’s shooting, said neighbour Rakesh Saxena.
“The two houses remain barely 10 metres apart. The friendship that once connected them now lies buried beneath the weight of three deaths,” said another resident, Anup Saxena.
{{/usCountry}}“The two houses remain barely 10 metres apart. The friendship that once connected them now lies buried beneath the weight of three deaths,” said another resident, Anup Saxena.
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