UP man held for shooting neighbour for guiding census team to his house: Police

A 65-year-old man was arrested for allegedly shooting his neighbor in Ghaziabad after a census team was guided to his house. The victim is hospitalized.

A 65-year-old man was arrested on Saturday for allegedly shooting his 55-year-old neighbour in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad district after the neighbour guided a census team to his house in Adarsh Colony in Muradnagar, police said.

Police later arrested the accused from Muradnagar. (Representative Photo/iStock)

The accused Rampal Chaudhary hails from Duhai in Ghaziabad and stays in Adarsh Colony, police said. The injured man was identified as Virendra Tyagi and is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Modinagar.

Assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Muradnagar, Bhaskar Verma, told HT, “Around 11am, a team of census staff came to Adarsh Colony and sought Tyagi’s help in guiding them to households. Tyagi also guided them to Chaudhary’s house for the exercise. However, when the census staff reached there, Chaudhary started misbehaving with them during questioning and drove them away. The census team then called the police for help.”

However, when the police reached Chaudhary’s house, they did not find him there, officials said.

“After the police team left, Chaudhary returned and learned from the census staff that Tyagi had guided them to his house. Soon after, he went to Tyagi’s house and shot him in the chest before fleeing. Locals rushed Tyagi to a hospital in Modinagar,” ACP said.

According to officials, the suspect was drunk when the incident occurred.

Police registered a first information report (FIR) under sections 109(1) (attempt to murder), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 351(3) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Muradnagar police station following a complaint by Tyagi’s elder brother, Gyanendra Kumar.

Kumar said, “He fired at Tyagi as soon as he opened the door. My brother fell down and Chaudhary fled while hurling abuses and threats. One of our acquaintances rushed my brother to a hospital,” Kumar told HT.

Police later arrested Chaudhary from Muradnagar.

“He was arrested and is being interrogated in detail about the incident and the weapon used in the crime,” the ACP said.