Greater Noida: A 30-year-old Samajwadi Party leader was shot dead by a group of unidentified assailants in broad daylight in Dadri area of Greater Noida on Friday afternoon. Police suspected old family rivalry to be a reason behind the murder.
According to police, the incident occurred around 12:30 pm and the deceased has been identified as Ramtek Katariya, a native of Garhi village at Dadri-Jarchha road.
Katariya was a local leader at Samajwadi party and was also into property business. Cops said that nearly five bullets were fired at Katariya out of which one bullet hit him in his head.
Vaibhav Krishna, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Gautam Buddh Nagar said that Katariya was shot outside his house while he was looking after a construction work.
"Police received information around 1 pm and a team rushed to the spot. The victim was shot when he was supervising construction work of a wall outside his house. Around four men travelled to his house in a car and opened indiscriminate fire at him. Nearly five bullets were fired at him while one hit his head and he immediately fell on the ground. Family members took him to a nearby hospital from where doctors referred him to Yashoda hospital in Ghaziabad where he succumbed to injuries," said Krishna.
A labourer working at the site who is also an eyewitness in the case said that four men travelled in a new Maruti Alto car and took just 25-30 seconds to commit the crime. "The criminals immediately fled the spot and we responded to the sound of bullet and raised an alarm," the eyewitness said.
Meanwhile police ruled out possibility of an political rivalry into the incident and registered a case against a few distant cousins of the deceased man.
"Prima Facie investigations showed that the man has been killed over an old family enmity. We have received complaint from victim's family and a case under sector 302 (punishment for murder) has been registered at Dadri police station. We have formed teams to work out that case at the earliest while further investigations are underway," added
Krishna.
As per reports, police have registered a case of murder against six persons including Krishna, Chandrapal, Anu, Rana, Baleshwar and Nitthe, natives of Garhi village.
A senior police officer said that deceased Katariya was into a personal enmity with some of his cousins who have also tried to involve him in a murder case, earlier in January.
However, police found him innocent in the case and a final report was also submitted by police.