A Ghazipur dairy head was shot dead by unidentified assailants near the Delhi-Ghaziabad tollbooth on National Highway-24 on Monday night. Two men have been detained based on a complaint by the family of the deceased.
The incident took place a few metres away from the tollbooth when the victim, 32-year-old Vinod Rana, was on his way home from a gym in Kaushambi.
The police suspect that the assailants were familiar with his evening routine to the gym.
“On Monday night, while he was on his way home in his silver grey Swift car, the assailants signalled him to stop. When he applied the brakes, they fired three bullets at him from the right window of his vehicle. He was hit in the temple, jaw and chin and collapsed. The vehicle then rammed the divider. Due to the heavy traffic, no one heard the gunshots,” said a police officer.
Passers-by spotted the car and informed the police. A police team, which reached the spot, found an injured Vinod on the driver’s seat and rushed him to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead.
Soon after news about Vinod’s death broke out, his family members gathered at the spot and blocked traffic on NH-24. They demanded the arrest of one Nazim whom they accused of nursing a grudge against the deceased.
A family member told The Hindu that about a month ago, Nazim and two others -- Rashid and Sabir -- were booked in a rape case.
They said it was only after Vinod (in his capacity as the dairy head) and his cousin Rajbir intervened, that the victim in that case “mustered the courage” to file a case. Subsequently, the three were arrested and released on bail.
“When the case was being registered, Nazim had asked Vinod and Rajbir to keep out of the matter and also warned that they would have to pay a heavy price for the same,” he said.
Based on the family’s allegations, the police have detained Rashid and Sabir for questioning, while Nazim is on the run.
The post-mortem was conducted on Tuesday after which the body was handed over to the family.
Vinod, who was the pradhan of the dairy for the past one year, was married and is survived by his wife and three children.
