Greater Noida: Pharmacist hires hitmen to attack election opponent, held

The victim, Roop Singh Bhati, a resident of Rajnagar, Ghaziabad, runs a medical shop in Dadri, Greater Noida

Greater Noida: A 45-year-old pharmacist, who allegedly hired four hitmen to attack a 70-year-old pharmacist over a pharmacy association election dispute in Dadri, Greater Noida, was arrested on Sunday evening, police said, adding that two of the hitmen were arrested following a gunfight on Tuesday night.

After two days of investigation, two suspects — Rajkumar and Sajid, both residents of Dadri — were arrested following a brief gunfight on Tuesday night. (HT Photos)

The victim, Roop Singh Bhati, a resident of Rajnagar, Ghaziabad, runs a medical shop in Dadri, Greater Noida. His family suspected that another pharmacist, Vinod Kumar, who also runs his shop nearby and is a resident of Gagan Vihar, Dadri, might be involved in the incident, said officers on Wednesday.

“After closing his shop on Sunday around 6.30 pm, when Bhati was walking on Dadri Road to take public transport around 500 metres from his shop, two men followed him and stabbed him using a sharp-edged weapon from behind,” reads the first information report filed by Bhati’s nephew Rajendra Singh.

“Following the incident, multiple teams were formed to trace the attackers,” said additional deputy commissioner of police (Greater Noida) Sudhir Kumar.

After two days of investigation, two suspects — Rajkumar and Sajid, both residents of Dadri — were arrested following a brief gunfight on Tuesday night, police said.

“During interrogation, it was revealed that Rajkumar stabbed Bhati on waist with a surgical blade. They revealed that when they were doing painting work at pharmacist Vinod Kumar’s shop, he hired them for ₹50,000 to attack Bhati. Two more associates, Ajaz and Kunal, also joined in the plan,” said assistant commissioner of police (ACP) (Greater Noida) Ajeet Kumar Singh.

“It came to the fore that Bhati used to contest in the pharmacy association election for the past several years. This year, Kumar also contested the election and asked Bhati to withdraw his name. When he refused, a dispute took place, and he planned to attack him,” said ACP Singh, adding that a case under Section 109 (attempt to murder) of BNS was registered against the five suspects at Dadri police station and they were arrested.

Police said they have recovered the surgical blade and two illegal firearms from the suspects’ possession and further investigation is on.