Accused's father, brother questioned

Hours after a 29-year-old woman, Deepti, was shot dead and her father critically injured inside the Karkarduma Metro station, investigators have called in her father-in-law and brother-in-law for questioning. Karn Pratap Singh reports.

Hours after a 29-year-old woman, Deepti, was shot dead and her father critically injured inside the Karkarduma Metro station, investigators have called in her father-in-law and brother-in-law for questioning.

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The accused, her 30-year-old husband Pawan Kumar, is a resident of New Usmanpur. Though five teams from the crime and railways department of the Delhi police conducted raids in coordination with the local police, Kumar could not be traced till late Tuesday night.

According to preliminary investigation, Kumar had planned the shooting and conducted a reconnaissance of the Karkarduma Metro Station premises. This is evident, the police said, because he was carrying his father's licensed double-barrel gun and an ammunition waist belt in his red Alto car when he came to attend court proceedings at the Karkardooma courts. He had covered the ammunition with a white quilt on the rear seat of his car.

"Kumar took advantage of the absence of security personnel at the entrance gate of the Metro station. The shooting lasted for more than a minute because Kumar had to load his gun at least two times to fire five bullets; even if there is a possibility that two bullets were already loaded in the gun when he entered the Metro station premises," said a senior investigating officer.

The way Kumar scaled the boundary wall of the Metro station and fled before CISF personnel could rush from the second floor indicates that Kumar was familiar with the building and had planned an easy exit.