A 27-year-old man was shot dead by a few men metres away from his house in north-east Delhi’s Seelampur on Sunday night. The victim’s brother is an eyewitness.
The victim has been identified as Noor Mohd, an autorickshaw driver. He was standing on the street near his house after the day’s work when the incident happened. His brother Aas Mohd said that he was working in a fruit godown on the same street when the incident happened.
Recalling the incident, he said, “Around 9 p.m., I heard several rounds of fire. I thought someone was bursting crackers. I stepped out and saw that four men had come in an SUV and fired indiscriminately at my brother. They stepped out of the vehicle which they had kept in ignition, shot at him and then fled. I ran towards my brother. He was lying in a pool of blood,” Aas said.
The family then rushed the victim to Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital from where he was referred to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. But, in the early hours of the day, he succumbed to injuries.
The family claimed that the murder was a fallout of personal enmity with local goons, which had been building up for over two years. A recent incident was the trigger behind the murder, they claimed.
Aas alleged that a man runs a gambling business in the market near their house where anti-social elements come, drink and use foul language publicly. “About two and a half years ago, Noor had asked that man, who also lives nearby, to control himself and his peers as there are women in the area and they feel unsafe. But he got enraged and the two got into a physical fight. They were both detained at that time,” the brother said adding that the man, ever since, harboured ill feelings for Noor.
Recalling the incident from Friday, the brother said that a man was caught stealing cash and phone from a relative during the engagement ceremony of a cousin and was beaten up by the family members. “The man stole cash and phone from my brother-in-law. We caught him, thrashed him and got the belongings back. We did not report the matter to the police,” he alleged.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (North East) Atul Thakur said that one person has been detained in connection with the case. “The man, who was caught stealing during the function, has been detained for interrogation. CCTV footage is being examined. Personal enmity appears to be the reason behind the murder,” he said.
Noor is survived by wife and two daughters. “He got his eldest daughter admitted in a government school just four days ago. He himself was uneducated but wanted his children to study hard,” Aas said.
