25-yr-old shot dead during late night road rage incident in Loni; two held

Ghaziabad: A 25-year-old man was shot dead allegedly by his neighbours during a late Sunday night road rage incident at Ratiram Colony in Loni’s Behta Hajipur, police said on Monday, adding that two people have been arrested over the incident

Ghaziabad: A 25-year-old man was shot dead allegedly by his neighbours during a late Sunday night road rage incident at Ratiram Colony in Loni’s Behta Hajipur, police said on Monday, adding that two people have been arrested over the incident.

According to police, the deceased and his cousin, aged 23, were returning from a metro station when they were allegedly attacked by the suspect family. (Representational image)

Police identified the deceased as Vipin Kumar Prajapati, and the prime suspect as a 24-year-old man, a neighbour. The two other suspects were identified as the prime suspect’s 22-year-old wife and 73-year-old father.

According to police, the deceased and his cousin, aged 23, were returning from a metro station when they were allegedly attacked by the suspect family. It occurred shortly after a heated argument had broken out in the middle of a road with the prime suspect, barely 500 metres away from their houses. Both the families are neighbours.

“All three suspects have been named in the FIR. The incident took place as the victim and his cousin, aged 23, were returning on a motorcycle after dropping a relative at metro station. The two found the prime suspect standing in the middle of the road. The deceased asked him to move out of the way and started blowing horn. An altercation broke out after the prime suspect didn’t move aside,” DCP (rural) Surendra Nath Tiwari told HT on Monday.

“Later, the prime suspect came running to his house and informed his family. In the meantime, as the victims were driving towards their house, they were attacked by the prime suspect and his family members (near their house),” the DCP added.

The prime suspect allegedly fired shots using an illegal pistol. One of the shots hit my brother, who later died, the elder brother of the deceased told HT.

“The prime suspect fired 2-3 shots on the two riding the bike. It was around 11.40pm when the fight started and shots were fired. My brother (the deceased) sustained a gunshot to his abdomen while his cousin (aged 23) sustained a gunshot on the finger of his hand. We rushed my brother to a hospital in Delhi, but he was declared brought dead,” the elder brother added.

Police were alerted around midnight and subsequently an FIR was registered under the BNS sections 103(1) (murder), 109(1) (attempt to murder), 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 3(5) (acts done with common intention) against three people following a complaint from the brother of the deceased at the Loni Border police station, said officials.

The DCP said teams have been formed to trace and arrest the prime suspect.

“Two others, the wife and father of the prime suspect, have been arrested while he will be arrested soon. He used an illegal pistol to fire at the victims. Two shots were fired. (Prime supect (SONU????)’s family members encouraged????? and attacked the victims,” the officer added.

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