Cops arrest two sharpshooters for murdering liquor shop owner

The police on Sunday night arrested two sharpshooters from Sector 95 bus stand for allegedly murdering a 42-year-old liquor shop owner and injuring his friend while they were returning to their house in Jatauli in Haily Mandi on the night of September 2.

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The police said the liquor trader was shot at least 16 times and died on the spot. His friend, on the other hand, suffered three bullet injuries and was discharged from a private hospital after a week. The police said that the suspects were hired by a business rival and he had paid them an advance of ₹1 lakh to carry out the assassination.

The suspects were identified as Ujjwal Kumar of Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh and Jeewan Singh of Gautam Budh Nagar of Uttar Pradesh. The Haryana Police had announced a reward of ₹5,000 two years ago for information leading to Kumar’s arrest.

According to the police, the incident took place around 10pm on the night of September 2, when the victims, identified as Inderjeet, Vikram and Vishal, who have a liquor business in Haily Mandi, were returning to their residences in a car. As their car entered a lane, a herd of cattle blocked their path and five men on three motorbike surrounded the vehicle and opened fire at them.

Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said, prima facie, it appears a case of personal enmity, which led to the alleged murder. We had formed five teams including crime branch to nab the suspects.

The police said Inderjeet, who was behind the wheel, was declared dead on arrival by doctors at a hospital in Pataudi. Vikram, 40, seated on the co-driver’s seat, sustained three bullet wounds on his arm and waist, while Vishal, who was on the back seat, survived the shooting unscathed, the police said.

“The probe revealed that in July 2019, some of the accused men had fired gunshots at Inderjeet in Jatauli. An attempt of murder case was registered against a few people and two men were arrested. But the main suspect, Abhishek Kumar, of same village hired people from Uttar Pradesh and paid them money for contract killing,” said Sangwan.

Sangwan said the complainant in the case had recorded the statement that in the last week of July, one of the accused men had threatened to kill Inderjeet and tried to extort money from him. “They were threatening him for life and told him they were in touch with criminals. They had also asked Inderjeet to shut down his business. One of the family members was elected in a municipal election too which led to personal enmity,” he said.

A case was registered against the suspects under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object, 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and relevant sections of the Arms Act at the Pataudi police station, said the police.