Man kills self after shooting at brother-in-law in Ghaziabad

A 25-year-old gym owner from Pilkhuwa on Thursday evening allegedly shot and injured his 18-year-old brother-in-law at his house in Gaupuri locality of Vijay Nagar in Ghaziabad.

The police said the man, Pawan Kumar , of Pilkhuwa in Hapur, later shot himself dead behind a mall near the New Bus Stand. They said the incident appeared to be a fallout of marital discord. Pawan Kumar’s wife Soniya had been staying with her aunt since the Rakshabandhan festival.

According to police, the injured man was identified as Saurabh Kumar, Soniya’s brother.

He sustained two bulled injuries and is currently in the ICU of a private hospital. Soniya got married to Pawan seven months ago, the police said.

Sonu, Soniya’s cousin, said, “Soniya had been with us since she was one and half years old and we got her married from our house in Ghaziabad. Her parents live in Jewar and her brother Saurabh was also at our house on Thursday. Since her marriage, Pawan had been beating her up and she had filed a case against him. On Rakshabandhan, Pawan came to take her back to Pilkhuwa but severely beat her up midway and left her near the NH-24 bypass. She then came back and has been staying with us since then.”

The family said there was a hearing in the case on Wednesday and some dispute had further cropped up between Soniya and Pawan.

“He threatened to take her away to Pilkhuwa and also called her half an hour before he arrived at our house with a pistol on Thursday, around 4.45pm. He tried to shoot Soniya but our family members intervened. Pawan then shot Saurabh. The shots hit him in the face and head. In the meantime, our neighbours also arrived on the scene and tried to nab him. But he fired shots in the air and fled the spot,” Sonu said.

Nearly 45 minutes later, a resident near the New Bus Stand heard a gunshot and rushed outside.

“They saw that a man had shot himself in head. We checked his identification cards and he was identified as Pawan. He had fled from Vijay Nagar after shooting his brother-in-law. We have sent his body for a postmortem examination and his family has been informed,” Vaibhav Krishna, senior superintendent of police, said.

Soniya’s cousin Sanjay Kumar said that Pawan had demanded ₹10 lakh cash as dowry.

“She is continuing her post graduation from a college in Ghaziabad. We spent nearly ₹20 lakh on her wedding but Pawan was demanding more,” he said.

The police said that they are yet to receive a complaint and will register a case accordingly.

“We did not find the weapon on Pawan’s body, we only found a magazine. The motive of the incident is not clear. We are awaiting a complaint and will lodge a case accordingly,” the SSP said.