Shop owner shot and injured by men who came to purchase toy

A 37-year-old shopkeeper was shot and injured late Sunday night by unidentified men who came in a car and posed as customers who had to buy a toy car from his shop.

The police said they have registered an FIR of attempt to murder at the Kavi Nagar police station and are investigating if the men were robbers and had come with an intent to loot the victim.

The incident took place around 9.45pm at Sector 4, Chiranjeev Vihar, where the victim Shambhu Dayal has a toy shop. He is a resident of Shiv Puri in Vijay Nagar and runs the shop from his sister’s house in Chiranjeev Vihar. The family members of the victim said two unidentified men came to the shop around 9.45pm and one of them asked for a toy car.

When Dayal went to pick up the toy, the man standing at the counter pulled out a gun and asked him to hand over cash. There were about ₹2,500 in the cash box but the man asked him for more money. He requested him not to open fire as he was ready to hand over whatever money he had. Meanwhile, the man kept pointing the gun at Dayal’s face,” Sanju Kumar, Dayal’s brother-in-law, said.

Kumar said the family gave a police complaint on the basis of which the police registered an FIR of attempt to murder. He added that he spoke to the victim at the hospital on Monday morning and more details about the crime were revealed by him.

“During the time when Dayal was trying to reason with the gun wielder, another man, who was sitting in the car all that while, also entered the shop and became aggressive. After that, Dayal pushed them away and decided to run out in order to seek help. At this point, one of the two men opened fire and the buller hit Dayal in his shoulder. Upon hearing the gunshot,local residents and other nearby shopkeepers arrived at the spot to help him, while the two men fled in the car. It was a white Maruti Swift car,” Kumar said.

The police said they are probing the incident from the angle of a robbery. They are also ascertaining if the shooting was the fallout of an altercation between Dayal and the two men.

“We will speak to Dayal once he recovers. He is in the ICU currently and his condition is stable. We are also scanning the CCTV footage from near the scene of crime to know more about the vehicle and the identity of the two men. A detailed investigation will be undertaken,” Shlok Kumar, superintendent of police (city), said.

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