Enraged at not getting spare parts for a motorcycle at an automobile showroom in northwest Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly town, the son of a Samajwadi Party MLA returned to the shop minutes later with a .315 rifle on Wednesday night and began shooting indiscriminately, killing his aide and injuring two showroom employees, the police and witnesses said.
Atul Gangwar, 27 — the son of Nawabganj legislator Bhagwat Saran Gangwar — and described as a "hardened criminal" by the police, was reportedly drunk at the time of the shooting and was later arrested.
Charan Singh, who was hit in the head, died in hospital within hours.
Minutes before the shooting, Atul allegedly crashed his Toyota Qualis into a motorcycle at Bareilly's Chowki Chauraha area. The motorcycle rider, an armyman, demanded that Atul get the two-wheeler repaired.
Atul and his friends arrived at the Kipps Hero Honda Automobiles showroom around 8 pm, demanding that the Hero Honda motorcycle be repaired.
When he was told that no spare parts were available and directed to a Hero Honda workshop, a drunk Atul lost his temper, showroom owner Aman Khandelwal said.
Atul, whose father is a co-owner of the nearby Sainik petrol pump, went out of the showroom mumbling and returned five minutes later with a rifle, accompanied by at least 10 men, including employees of the petrol pump, Khandelwal said. Charan was one of them. "He (Atul) started firing blindly as he entered the showroom," Khandelwal said.
{{/usCountry}}Atul, whose father is a co-owner of the nearby Sainik petrol pump, went out of the showroom mumbling and returned five minutes later with a rifle, accompanied by at least 10 men, including employees of the petrol pump, Khandelwal said. Charan was one of them. "He (Atul) started firing blindly as he entered the showroom," Khandelwal said.
{{/usCountry}}Everyone ran for cover. Bullets hit showroom manager Akhilesh Bhatnagar, cashier Rajiv Sharma and Charan. Khandelwal escaped by running upstairs.
Charan died at midnight in a private hospital.
"Atul Gangwar has been sent to the Bareilly district jail," Bareilly Zone inspector general of police Gurbachan Lal said. "The police recovered a 12-bore double-barreled gun and a .315 rifle from him."