Residents of Noida Sector 41 in shock after death of two-and-a-half-year-old boy

As the procession began, with the music playing at full volume, people came out onto their balconies to watch

Aghapur village in Noida Sector 41 is densely populated with two-three storey buildings on either side of a narrow road which has space for barely two vehicles to pass abreast.

Ansh Sharma. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

At 8.15pm, a large number of people, including three DJ operators, gathered at the beginning of the village road for the procession, which was going to go at least two to three kilometres inside the densely populated area.

As the procession began, with the music playing at full volume, people came out onto their balconies to watch. Among them was Vikas Sharma, who brought out his two-and-a-half-year-old son Ansh, on his lap.

“At 8.53pm, barely 100 metres from the starting point of the wedding procession, three men suddenly climbed onto the horse-drawn vehicle of the groom. Two of them pulled out a gun from behind their back and fired multiple rounds, one of which hit Ansh,” recalled Dharmendra Kumar, the owner of a three-storey building where the victim lived with his family. The building has 14 rooms with 42 occupants of whom 16 were watching the events from the third-floor balcony.

Residents said that more than six rounds were fired in the air.

“As the men started firing in the air, people around us started running indoors, frightened. By the time we what happened, Vikas came down crying and holding Ansh, saying he had been shot. A lot of blood was coming from Ansh’s head. We rushed to a nearby private hospital, where doctors declared him dead,” said Kumar.

Hari Om, who runs a mobile repair shop in front of the three-storey building, said, “Due to the loud music, I closed the shutter of my shop and went inside. The sound was so loud that all the boxes in my shop fell. I have never seen a baraat with three boomboxes playing at full volume. Due to the extreme sound, people came out to see what was happening,” he said.

After the incident, locals shut their shops and began gathering at the hospital. Later, police were alerted via the emergency helpline number 112 and a complaint was filed.

“When the people in the wedding procession learned that a boy had been shot, the accused and his friends fled the spot. The groom and the bride’s families then tried to complete the rituals quickly,” said Ajay Kumar, a neighbour.

At midnight, a police team arrived at the wedding venue and picked up a few suspects, including the groom who was released on Monday at 10am, after which he resumed the marriage rituals.

“We are investigating how many rounds were fired. We can only see four rounds of shots in videos of the incident. We have interrogated many people, including the groom, his family members, and people who were part of the wedding procession,” said Sumit Shukla, additional deputy commissioner of police, Noida.