Ghaziabad: Man gunned down by bikers outside police station

In Ghaziabad, a heated argument led to the murder of 32-year-old Ravi Sharma outside a police station, prompting police suspensions and an FIR.

Ghaziabad

The victim’s family held a protest at the Muradnagar police station on Thursday morning. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

An argument between two groups over halting a car on a main road near Rawli around 7.30pm on Wednesday snowballed into a major fight and culminated in the murder of a 32-year-old man at the entrance of the Muradnagar police station around 11.45pm on the same day, police said.

The family of the victim, Ravi Sharma, alleged that police took no action when the accused, identified as Monty Chaudhary and Ajay Chaudhary, fired at least four to five shots outside the police station. Subsequently, three police officers were suspended on Thursday and an FIR under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 103(1) (murder) and 3(5) (acts done with common intention) was filed.

The Muradnagar police station is located on the Delhi-Meerut Road.

“It was around 11.45pm when the two suspects arrived on a bike on the opposite side of the road and fired several shots outside the police station. They soon fled on their bike. One of the shots hit Ravi Sharma and killed him. We have formed five teams to trace the two suspects, and an FIR has been registered against them,” Surendra Nath Tiwary, DCP of the rural zone, said.

The events started at around 7.30pm, when Ravinder Sharma, Bharatiya Kisan Union’s national vice-president, and his son Arun Sharma were returning to their home in Milak Rawli village in Muradnagar. Upon spotting their two nieces getting off an autorickshaw, Ravinder halted the car and asked them to board the car.

During the conversation, the suspects—who also reside in the same village as the victim’s family—were driving down the opposite side and objected to Ravinder halting the car. “They had a heated exchange over the passage of their cars, after which Ravinder returned home. Around 8.30pm, the two suspects went on a bike to Ravinder’s house and fired two shots at the main gate. Ravinder called the police, who could not find the accused at their residence. Ravinder was asked to visit the police station to file a complaint,” DCP Tiwary said.

Ravinder visited the police station along with his eldest son Ravi Sharma, the victim, and a few other relatives around 11pm. When they were waiting outside, Ravinder said the two suspects came on a bike and fired at them, killing Ravi.

“During the firing outside the police station, four policemen were standing near us, but none of them opened retaliatory fire, even though we insisted. They just started preparing videos of the incident as soon as the first shot was fired. We rushed my injured son (Ravi Sharma) to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead. We kept his body outside the police station on Thursday morning, demanding their police encounter and security for my family,” Ravinder said.

Police said the group held a demonstration with the body of the deceased on Thursday morning, but traffic movement on the Delhi-Meerut Road was not affected.

Following the incident, senior officials of the Ghaziabad Police Commissionerate on Thursday suspended the station house officer (SHO) of Muradnagar police station, a sub-inspector who was the night officer, and another sub-inspector, who is the beat police officer of the areas concerned, the police said in a statement.

Police said that prime suspect Monty was released from jail last year after serving a sentence for raping a minor girl in 2015. The other accused, Ajay, does not have a criminal history, the DCP said.

Sharma’s family operates a business of pesticides and agricultural equipment at Rawli in Muradnagar.