BULANDSHAHR: One person died and his father is battling for life after they were shot at here this morning in fallout of a long-running enmity between two families that has already left six dead and four in jail, police said Sunday.
Besides the deceased and his father, two more people were injured in the Sunday morning firing and they have been rushed to a private hospital in Noida, they said.
Police said the Sunday incident happened in Dhanaura village under the Kakod police station when Dharampal, his wife, their son Sandeep and government gunner Pushpendra, assigned to him for his security, were returning in their four-wheeler from a farm.
Two men opened fire on their car near a turn on the road, leaving Dharampal, Sandeep, Pushpendra and a man standing nearby injured, Senior Superintendent of Police Santosh Kumar Singh said, adding Dharampal's wife escaped unhurt.
He said they were rushed to the Kailash Hospital in Noida where Sandeep succumbed, while Dharampal is in serious condition.
Pushpendra and the passerby who got injured are also receiving treatment there, he said.
The SSP said the incident was a fallout of an old enmity between two families -- one Dharampal's and the other Amit's, an alleged history-sheeter serving a jail term -- that began in 2005 when Dharampal's mother and their house help were killed.
Two years later, Amit's mother and her brother were also killed, the SSP said.
Then in 2019, Dharampal's brother Jagpal, who was a former village head, was shot dead in Haryana's Palwal, he said.
Dharampal's father Kalicharan was also killed in 2020, the SSP said, adding Amit and three other people were booked in this case and sent to jail.
They all are still in jail.
Amit and his family no longer live in Dhanaura village and their house stands in ruins.
The SSP said Dharampal was assigned a government gunner for his security and a weapon license was also issued to him on the recommendation of the district magistrate.
The SSP said he was visiting the Noida hospital.