23-year-old Delhi man lynched over business rivalry; 2 held

The cops said the attackers, who were arrested later in the evening, held a grudge that the flower shop of the victim outside a temple in Loni was doing well while their business had slowed down.

A 23-year-old man was beaten to death with iron rods by two assailants in Ankur Vihar area of Loni in Ghaziabad on Monday morning, police said.Two different video clips of the incident that were widely shared on social media shows passersby recording the attack on their phones as the assailants beat the victim mercilessly.

Police said the incident took place when Ajay boarded an auto to return home after closing his shop. The suspects pulled him out and started beating him with iron rods.

The cops said the attackers, who were arrested later in the evening, held a grudge that the flower shop of the victim outside a temple in Loni was doing well while their business had slowed down.

Police said the victim, Ajay Kumar, and the assailants, Govind Sharma, 21, and his friend, Amit Kumar, 22, lived in southeast Delhi’s Sarita Vihar.

Superintendent of Police (Rural) Iraj Raja said Govind planned the murder with his friend. “Govind had been selling flowers outside the Loni temple for the past several years. However, his business was affected after the Ajay opened his shop there eight months ago,” said SP Raja while explaining the motive behind the crime.

Police said the incident took place when Ajay boarded an auto to return home after closing his shop. The suspects pulled him out and started beating him with iron rods, investigators said.

Based on police complaint by the victim’s family on Monday, an FIR was registered against the two suspects under IPC section 302 (murder) with 34 (common intention). Police said that they will also add section 120b (criminal conspiracy) as the murder was planned.

“We have also recovered the two iron rods from the suspects,” SP Raja said.

Meanwhile, another video allegedly related to victim’s brother, Sanjay Kumar, also surfaced on the social media on Monday. It purportedly shows Govind stabbing Sanjay at the shop.

“With regards to the old video of a stabbing incident in April, we have informed senior officers and an inquiry is going on against the local police-post officers to find if they had shown any laxity. I have been informed that the two parties had then reached a compromise and gave it in writing to the police. I have directed officials to find the compromise letter and details of the previous case,” the SP said.

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