Ghaziabad: Man critical after being shot, 7 booked

Ghaziabad: Police on Monday registered a first information report against seven identified and several other unidentified men after a 26-year-old man was shot at and left critically injured in Ghaziabad’s Vijay Nagar on Sunday night, officials said

Ghaziabad: Police on Monday registered a first information report against seven identified and several other unidentified men after a 26-year-old man was shot at and left critically injured in Ghaziabad’s Vijay Nagar on Sunday night, officials said.

The victim sustained two gunshots and his family rushed him to a hospital in Ghaziabad, from where he was referred to a hospital in Delhi. (Representational image)

Officials said the injured, identified as Akash Bihari, was standing at an intersection, about 100 feet from his home around 9.30pm just when the suspects allegedly picked a fight with him, and one of them, the prime suspect, opened fire.

“The victim sustained two gunshots and his family rushed him to a hospital in Ghaziabad, from where he was referred to a hospital in Delhi. He sustained a gunshot wound to his shoulder and abdomen. The suspects were known to him and belong to the same locality (Mata Colony). The incident took place over some trivial issue,” assistant commissioner of police (ACP) (city 2) Ziauddin Ahmad said.

Based on a complaint by the victim’s family, a first information report was registered at the Vijay Nagar police station and teams have been formed to trace the absconding suspects

The victim is also one of the suspects who allegedly murdered a local journalist during an incident in Mata Colony on July 20, 2020, said officials.

“Akash was one of the suspects in the murder case of journalist Vikram Joshi,” said Dharam Pal, SHO Vijay Nagar.

Akash’s brother, Badal Kumar, said that Akash got a bail a year ago after spending five years in jail.

“We maintain that my brother was falsely implicated in the case… But on Sunday night, several suspects arrived and picked up a fight with my brother. One of them fired two shots at him, and all others fled the spot. My brother is critical and in the intensive care at a Delhi hospital. One bullet is still lodged in his abdomen,” Kumar said.

He said about two months ago, there was a marriage ceremony held near their house. “There, the prime suspect, who was not uninvited but still arrived and started using abusive language. My brother had asked him to mind his language, and a fight ensued. But the matter was pacified with public intervention. However, that suspect returned with his accomplices on Sunday night and shot my brother,” Kumar alleged.

Based on a complaint by Akash’s father, the police on Monday registered an FIR under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 109(1) (attempt to murder) and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) at Vijay Nagar police station.

HT has seen the FIR, which names seven persons, including the prime suspect.