CBI steno’s son among two youth arrested for killing eatery owner

NEW DELHI: Five days after 60-year-old eatery owner, Pappu Vasudev, was shot dead at his shop by four men following an argument over payment of food bill, two accused

NEW DELHI: Five days after 60-year-old eatery owner, Pappu Vasudev, was shot dead at his shop by four men following an argument over payment of food bill, two accused have been arrested.

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Manish Kumar, 25, son of a stenographer in CBI, and his friend, Robin, 26 — both residents of south Delhi’s Pilanji near Kotla Mubarakpur — were held on Thursday following raids. The other two suspects, Sagar and a juvenile, are still absconding.

According to police, Kumar is the prime accused in Vasudev’s murder case as he was the one who had fired at him with a pistol that he had purchased two years ago from Etah in Uttar Pradesh to impress his friends. Kumar worked as chit fund agent.

Interrogation of the arrested men, a senior police officer said, revealed that the argument between them and Vasudev started on payment of Rs 1,085 bill for food they had ordered.

“The four wanted some discount in the bill but Vasudev insisted them to pay the entire bill. An argument broke out during which Vasudev and his friend Shyam slapped Kumar’s friend Sagar. The four felt humiliated and decided to take revenge from Vasudev. They paid the bill and left the eatery only to return again,” said the senior officer.

The four reached Robin’s home where Kumar’s pistol was kept.

They took the weapon and returned to Vasudev’s shop in a Maruti Swift Dzire car purchased by Manish some months ago. While the other three entered into a scuffle with Vasudev’s employees, Kumar straightaway went to him and shot him twice point blank range.

Mandeep Singh Randhawa, DCP (southeast), said the crime was reported to them around 10.30 pm on Monday.

Vasudev was rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre where he succumbed to his bullet injuries during treatment. A case was registered and investigation was taken up, said Randhawa.

“During the probe, we learnt that the car, bearing UP’s registration number, was registered in the name of Pawan Kumar, a Greater Noida resident. Pawan was questioned and he claimed to have sold the car long ago. Further efforts revealed that the car was last sold to Manish Kumar, who was absconding since the night of the crime,” said Randhawa.