LUCKNOW: A man was found shot dead at the residence of the son of Union Minister of State for
Housing and Urban Affairs, Kaushal Kishore, in the old Lucknow area on Friday morning. As per the police, the victim was identified by cops as Vinay Srivastava, 30, a BJP worker. He was also a close aide of the minister’s son Vikas Kishore. The weapon used was a licensed .32-bore pistol belonging to the minister’s son.
The police arrested three persons — Ankit Verma, Ajay Rawat, and Shamim alias Baba — from the spot. The arrests were made after a named FIR was lodged under Section 302 of IPC against them on the basis of the complaint given by the family of the victim.
However, Union Minister Kaushal Kishore, who is a BJP MP from Mohanlalganj parliamentary constituency situated on Lucknow outskirts, claimed that his son Vikas Kishore went to Delhi an evening before the incident and that he was not present in the house at the time of the murder.
Lucknow DCP Rahul Raj said that Srivastava died of a bullet injury. He said that during a preliminary inquiry, it came to light that six people – Ankit Verma, Ajay Rawat, Shamim alias Baba, and two others Saurabh Rawat and Arun Pratap Singh alias Bunty-- had come to the house on Thursday night and they had dinner together. They even consumed alcohol and played cards.
As per the police statement, during the gamble, a scuffle ensued between Vinay (the victim) and Ankit to whom Vinay had lost `12,000 after which Ankit, Ajay, and Shamir stopped the game and Saurabh Rawat along with Bunty went away with the amount won in the gamble. This infuriated Vinay resulting in the fight among all four. In the scuffle, Vinay’s shirt was torn. As the fight intensified, Ankit took out the pistol of Vikas Kishore from under the pillow kept on the bed and caught hold of Vinay with the help of Ajay and Shamim. He then shot Vinay on his head leaving him dead on the sport.
“A .32 bore pistol recovered from the spot is said to belong to Vikas Kishore. CCTV footage from cameras installed in the house corroborated the sequence of the incident,” said the police statement.
Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased said that he was a close associate of Vikas and alleged that he was murdered in a planned manner. The victim’s brother Vikas Srivastava pointed the finger of suspicion at Vikas Kaushal.