A 42-year-old restaurant owner in Ghaziabad was shot dead over a packet of cigarettes. The accused revealed that he took out his gun in a fit of anger after restaurant owner Sanjeev Sharma refused to hand over the cigarette packet he had ordered.
Varun Dhama, a Loni resident, was arrested in connection with the murder and the police recovered a pistol bearing US-made mark and two live-cartridges from him.
Dhama revealed he had gone to Sharma’s restaurant Sangam with his brother to have dinner. They reached the restaurant at 9pm on December 2.
“After dinner, I asked Sharma to get a packet of ‘Gold Flake’ cigarettes for us. He had the packet and when I asked for the cigarettes, he refused. There was no reason why he refused to give them to me. I got angry and fired at him from a close range. The bullet hit him in his abdomen,” Dhama told Hindustan Times from Senior Superintendent of Police’s office.
The accused fled the scene and was caught on Monday by police. Senior superintendent of police Raghubir Lal said Sharma was rushed to Guru Teg Bahadur hospital in Delhi where he died the same day.
“He got the pistol from home. It was illegally bought by his elder brother,” SSP said.
{{/usCountry}}“He got the pistol from home. It was illegally bought by his elder brother,” SSP said.
{{/usCountry}}Dhama said since he had a gun at home he decided to carry it around.
“People carry guns and use them for celebratory firing at weddings. I also carried it to show it off,“ Dhama said.