Man shot at in panchayat meet, 1 held

In a daylight attempt at honour killing, a 22-year-old man was shot at four times during a panchayat meeting in a village near Pataudi on Wednesday morning. He is currently battling for life at a private hospital. Leena Dhankhar reports.

In a daylight attempt at honour killing, a 22-year-old man was shot at four times during a panchayat meeting in a village near Pataudi on Wednesday morning. He is currently battling for life at a private hospital.

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About 200 people were present when the incident took place at Triphada village.

Six persons have been booked for the crime while the main accused has been arrested.

The victim, Harkesh Yadav, was friends with a girl belonging to Triphada village.

According to villagers, Harkesh, an electrician, had been warned a number of times against meeting the girl, but he persisted with his "affair".

He had been brutally assaulted on Tuesday night as well after which his father called a Panchayat meeting to bring the guilty to book.

"He was on his way back home on Tuesday night when a few villagers attacked him with sticks and broke his motorcycle. After discussing with my relatives, we went to

Triphada village early morning and called the panchayat. I wanted to know why my son was assaulted," said Karan Yadav, the victim's father.

An eyewitness said that even before the villagers could reach to a conclusion, a man named – Satyawan alias Chuha – took out his gun and opened fire at Harkesh. None of the villagers intervened, he added.

"Harkesh was repeatedly warned against meeting the girl, but he did not budge. The villagers were unhappy as he was an outsider," the eyewitness said.

When his father tried to save him, he too was assaulted. "I tried to save my son… When I covered him, three men started hitting me with sticks. My son was bleeding and crying in pain, but I could not do anything," Harkesh's distraught father added.

"Two bullets were removed from the victim's body in an eight-hour-long surgery. One bullet had entered his head while another had ruptured his abdomen, damaging the intestines. His condition is critical," said Dr Nitin Arora, a surgeon at Orbit Hospital.

When contacted, inspector Narender Khatana said, "We have registered a case against six men. The main accused has been arrested from his village. We are conducting raids to nab the rest of them."