Dhaba owners shot dead for not turning on air cooler

A 57-year-old man and his son were allegedly shot dead inside their eatery in Nangli Sakrawati village located at Najafgarh on Wednesday night over a minor scuffle and the main accused had been arrested while four of his accomplices are on the run.

The men, who were allegedly in an inebriated condition, came to the eatery for dinner and had got into an argument with the owner over switching on an air cooler.

The argument turned into a scuffle during which they opened fire at him.

When his son tried to stop them, he too, was shot down. The main accused was arrested within a few hours of the incident while his four accomplices are still at large.

Police say that the men also had an argument with the eatery owner earlier as well, during which they had threatened him with dire consequences.

According to the police, the deceased has been identified as Shyam Barma and his son Mayank. Shyam owns the Sangeeta Dhabha in which he had been working for the past few years.

The police were informed about the incident when an employee working at the eatery made a PCR call right after the incident.

The police team which reached the spot and rushed the father and his son to Rao Tula Ram hospital, where Shyam Barma was declared brought dead on arrival.

His son was declared dead hours later when he succumbed to his injuries.

The father-son duo was working at the dhaba when the accused had come in their motorcycles and were thought to be drunk.

Later, while eating, one of the men from the group asked them to switch on the air conditioning. When Shyam informed them about some issue with the air conditioner, the group got agitated and started hurling abuses at them, said police.

Afterwards, one of the men from the group fired at Shyam twice. One of the bullets found its way to his head and killed him on the spot. When his son tried to save him, he was also shot down by one of them.

The police have refused to divulge the name of the accused who has been arrested claiming that it would jeopardize the case and have also claimed to have identified other members of the group.