BJP leader shot inside his restaurant in UP, one attacker held

In a CCTV footage, Alok Arya is seen sitting at the cash counter of the restaurant and talking to someone when a man walks in and shoots at him thrice with a pistol.

A businessman, who is also a BJP leader, was shot at by three men inside his restaurant packed with customers in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur town on Sunday night, police have said.

BJP leader Alok Arya was shot inside his restaurant in Sultanpur on Sunday. (Shuuterstock/Representative image)

Deputy inspector general of police Omkar Singh said Saurabh Singh alias Chotu, one of the men who shot at Alok Arya, the owner of Awantika Food Mall, was arrested on Monday.

The other two have been identified as Raman Singh and Satya Prakash Singh alias Phufa, he added.

Saurabh was arrested following a tip-off by a police team on Monday near Tudai crossing while he was trying to escape in an SUV. He was being interrogated and the other accused will be arrested soon, the senior police officer said.

The shooting was recorded by the closed-circuit television or CCTV cameras installed in the restaurant, police said.

Arya, a member of the BJP state executive committee, is seen sitting at the cash counter of the restaurant and talking to someone when a man walks in and shoots at him thrice with a pistol. The attacker escapes before people at the restaurant could realise what had happened.

Angry Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and office bearers of traders’ organisations assembled at the restaurant later and shouted slogan against the district administration. They said the police have failed to check crimes in the area.

The administration deployed extra police force on the spot and the officers tried to pacify the angry traders, asking them not to pay attention to rumours on social media about Arya’s death.