Rush-hour murder on Kalkaji street

A South Delhi businessman was shot dead in Kalkaji at point-blank range by motorcycle-borne assailants. A report by Vijaita Singh.

A South Delhi businessman was shot dead in Kalkaji at point-blank range by motorcycle-borne assailants on Monday morning.

HT Image

Electric goods dealer Arun Gupta, 47, was shot in the right temple barely 50 metres away from his E-Block, Kalkaji, home at 9.45 am. Gupta was on his way to his shop at Bhagirath Place in Chandni Chowk. Three motorcycle-borne men knocked on the window of Arun’s Wagon R, and as he rolled it down, one of them shot him in the temple.

Arun’s wife Sadhana, daughter of Madan Lal Mittal, owner of the now-shut wedding banquet venue Mittal Gardens near Chhattarpur, inherited a chunk of property a year back. Arun had also got Rs 1.73 crore from Mittal’s fixed deposit account a week back, police said.

A neighbour’s domestic help, who witnessed the murder, rushed to Arun’s home to inform his family. Arun’s son Harshal (18) rushed him to Holy Family Hospital where he was declared dead.

Arun’s elder brother Anil said Arun had a dispute with Sadhana’s brothers Sneh Kumar and Dinesh Kumar Mittal, who were unhappy over the property being given to their sister. HT could not confirm this independently. Repeated attempts to contact the Mittal brothers failed.

Police said property dispute is just one of the many angles they are probing. Arun had also lost heavily in the share market recently. “The family has not told us anything about the dispute. We are examining all angles and can’t rule out personal rivalry,” said HGS Dhaliwal, DCP (south).