Loni triple murder: Victim’s nephew arrested

Ghaziabad: A day after a 65-year-old cloth trader and his two sons were shot dead in their home in Loni town, the Ghaziabad police on Tuesday arrested a 30-year-old nephew of the trader in connection with the case

Ghaziabad: A day after a 65-year-old cloth trader and his two sons were shot dead in their home in Loni town, the Ghaziabad police on Tuesday arrested a 30-year-old nephew of the trader in connection with the case. Police said that the suspect allegedly killed his uncle after he refused to give ₹10 lakh for starting a business.

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The suspect was identified as Mohammad Ayyub, who lives in the same locality. The fourth victim of the incident, 60-year-old wife of the trader, is still critical at a hospital in Noida, police said.

On early Monday morning, Haji Raisuddin, the trader, and his two sons -- Azhar, 30, and Imran, 25 -- had been shot dead, while his wife, Fatima, had suffered critical gunshot wounds in the incident that had taken place in Toli Mohalla.

According to police, Ayyub was forcing his uncle, Raisuddin, to provide the money for a scrap business. When the victim denied, the suspect gunned him down and later fired at the other victims to protect his identity.

“On the night of the incident, Ayyub, as per plan, visited his uncle’s house at 9.45pm and said to him that he will stay for the night. He brought along a pistol and a magazine. When his uncle woke up around 2.30am, the suspect asked him for money, but he denied. This angered the suspect and he opened fire,” said Amit Pathak, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Ghaziabad.

Then the suspect tried to flee through the main door but he heard some noises of locals gathering outside. So, he decided to escape through the roofs of nearby houses, police said.

“During interrogation, the suspect said that he started shooting at the victims one by one in order to protect his identity,” Pathak said.

Police officials involved in the investigation said that after fleeing from the uncle’s house, the suspect threw his blood-stained shirt in one of the lanes of the locality and disposed of the pistol in a drain. They said that one of the buttons of the shirt broke off during the incident and was found at the crime spot.

The officials further said that they also got clues from the CCTV footage in which the suspect was seen escaping while his identity was revealed to police by the trader’s daughter-in-law, Afsana, who was the only one who escaped unhurt in the house.

“She said that she identified the suspect during the incident. The suspect said that he tried to fire at her, but the pistol malfunctioned. One live cartridge was also found which got ejected from the weapon during the process. The pistol and the blood-stained shirt were recovered,” said an officer attached to the investigation.

“The suspect also told us that he was viewing some YouTube videos about fitting a silencer to the pistol. So, he was planning the incident for quite some time and finally gave way on Monday morning,” the officer added.

Police had filed an FIR on Monday night against unknown persons under IPC sections 396 (dacoity with murder) and 397 (robbery, or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) at Loni police station.

SSP Pathak said that the claims of robbery have been ruled out as alleged by the victims’ family members. The family members on Monday claimed that the suspects had also escaped with cash and jewellery.