DEHRADUN: A 42-year-old businessman was shot dead allegedly by two scooter-borne assailants in broad daylight here on Wednesday, police said, adding that the wife of the deceased has alleged her mother-in-law's role in the incident.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the deceased, Arjun Sharma, owner of Amardeep Gas Agency, had a family dispute and his mother, Bina Sharma, had sought protection from the Uttarakhand High Court, citing a threat to her life from the deceased.
Dehradun City Superintendent of Police Pramod Kumar said that the incident occurred at around 10.30 am outside a temple in the Tibetan Market, when Arjun Sharma, a resident of Indira Nagar in the Vasant Vihar area, was about to get into his car to go home after coming out of the stadium after playing tennis as usual.
Kumar said that two assailants on a scooter opened fire on Sharma. He was taken to Doon Hospital, where he was declared dead.
Meanwhile, the deceased's wife, Abhilasha Sharma, has submitted a complaint, suspecting four people, including her mother-in-law, of murdering her husband.
In the complaint, Abhilasha stated that Bina Sharma had financial dealings with Vinod Uniyal, his wife, Sangeeta Uniyal and Dr Ajay Khanna, owner of SK Memorial Hospital, which her husband, the deceased, opposed, and that she had a dispute with her mother over this issue.
Police stated that based on the complaint, they have registered a case.
During interrogation, the family members also revealed that the deceased was having a dispute with the accused regarding a transaction of about Rs 40-42 crore, the police said.
In her complaint, Abhilasha expressed suspicion that these individuals had her husband murdered due to this dispute.
This is the second murder in Dehradun city in just 10 days. Previously, on February 2, a man allegedly murdered a 22-year-old woman by slitting her throat with a sharp-edged weapon in Machhi Bazaar.
Taking the incident seriously, Inspector General of Police, Garhwal Range, Rajiv Swaroop, inspected the scene and directed the Dehradun SSP to arrest the murderers and develop a concrete strategy to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future.
Uttarakhand Congress President Ganesh Godiyal said that the spate of murders in the capital city is proof that criminals are emboldened and the state's law and order situation has deteriorated.
Godiyal accused Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami of using the police force not for the public good but for his own personal gain.
He said, "The police are busy serving the political interests of the chief minister and his party, while law and order are in shambles, crimes against women have increased, and murders are occurring one after another. The criminals are emboldened, but the government is unwilling to do anything."
He said that his party will hold a Raj Bhavan siege on February 16 to protest the state government's failures.
Meanwhile, the state BJP stated that the state government is committed to public safety and that every criminal will be brought to justice.
Speaking to the media, BJP state media in-charge Manveer Singh Chauhan said, "Some tragic incidents have occurred, but after each incident, the perpetrators have been sent behind bars. The police will soon solve today's murder case, and the perpetrators will be in jail."