A man opens fire in a residential area at Shahdara, in New Delhi, Thursday night, Oct 31, 2024. At least two people were killed in the incident.
Credit: PTI Photo
In a chilling Delhi murder case, a man and his 16-year-old nephew were shot dead on the eve of Diwali in Shahdara's Farsh Bazar, while his 15-year-old son was injured. A juvenile was apprehended on Friday for his alleged involvement in the crime.
According to police officials, the victim Akash Sharma was killed by the juvenile, who is a distant relative, following to a dispute involving Rs 70,000 which led him to a hatch conspiracy to kill him.
The accused, who is around 17 years old, had hired a shooter to commit the crime, a police officer said.
"During interrogation, he said that he was having a financial dispute of Rs 70,000 with Akash. Investigations are still on, and we are trying to nab the shooter," the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Prashant Gautam said.
A report by The Times Of India, quoting a senior police officer said, Sharma was a property dealer and money lender who had hired the teenager in October to fire at a house. However, when Sharma did not pay up, the same teenager made the plan of firing at Sharma's house.
The teenager is said to have criminal records.
According to a police statement, the teenager said that Sharma did not pay him Rs 70,000 that he had promised. Additionally, Sharma also had an argument with the juvenile's father few days prior to the incident.
Citing the teenager's statement, his anger and frustration made him plan on taking revenge, for which he hired a man by paying Rs 1.5 lakh.
A police officer said Sharma used to run a cosmetics shop near his house and was booked several times in cases of gambling. Sharma's brother Yogesh also faces multiple criminal cases, but was not present at the spot during the incident.
Yogesh has 14 cases registered against him.
Yogesh told TOI that he was the real target and received phone calls few a days ago with threatening messages.
TOI quoted DCP Prashant Gautam saying that in 2006, Sharma was charged with a gambling case and in 2013 for a case of cheating. In 2015 he was booked for kidnapping and gang rape, and in 2023 was booked for attempted murder.
According to the deceased's family, they had a rivalry with the accused and his kin over property and money. A relative said that Sharma was aware of possible threat and so he had self-isolated, the publication reported.
Akash's mother Shashi told reporters that they were getting threats for the past several days. "A day earlier, he came to our house with a packet of sweet. Since his family have an enmity with us, we avoided him," she said.
"Because of that family, I lost my husband. Now my son and grandson have also been murdered," Shashi said.
The incident was captured on CCTV and surfaced on social media on Friday showing one of the two accused touching Akash Sharma's feet before the other opened fire on him.
The clip showed Akash along with his nephew Rishabh Sharma, and son Krish were seen celebrating Diwali outside their house in Bihari Colony when around 8 pm the two accused came there on a scooty.
One of the bike riders touched Akash's feet while the other, wearing a mask and with a bottle in hand, stood nearby. Suddenly the masked man started firing, the footage from a CCTV camera showed.
The shooter started running as he kept firing at Rishabh and Krish, who chased him.
The three victims were taken to a hospital where Akash and Rishabh were declared dead while Krish was undergoing treatment, police said.
(With PTI inputs)