Delhi call centre owner shoots brothers

A call centre owner and his accomplice allegedly shot at and critically injured two brothers here Thursday midnight after being taunted publicly by them for not paying his monthly instalment against the loan he had taken.

The incident occurred at the posh Shastri Nagar locality in Ghaziabad under the Kavi Nagar police station.

According to police, Balvinder, the owner of M/S Cognizant Technologies at C-83 Raj Nagar District Centre (RDC), had taken a loan of Rs.50,000 from Anuj (25), a resident of Shastri Nagar, Ghaziabad. He would pay Rs.2,000 as instalment on the 17th of every month. But he failed to pay the January instalment, after which Anuj reportedly misbehaved and insulted him publicly.

On Jan 22 midnight, determined to take revenge for Anuj's provocative behaviour, Balvinder called his friend Saurabh, and then asked another friend Thakur to phone Anuj and tell him to come to the gate of his residence. Anuj came to the gate as requested whereupon Balvinder and Saurabh pumped many bullets into him. Hearing the sound of firing, Anuj's elder brother Deepak (28) rushed to the main gate. Balvinder and his friend Saurabh fired around six bullets at Deepak and fled the spot in a Hyundai Accent car.

In an attempt to cover up his crime, Balvinder fired a shot in his palm and went to the Kavi Nagar police station and told police that he had been injured by Anuj and Deepak when he went to pay the loan instalment. He alleged that they not only injured him but had threatened him in the past for not paying the regular instalments. He said he had become a defaulter due to the financial crunch.

When police reached Anuj's house, they were shocked to see the two brothers critically injured. They rushed the men to the Sarvodaya Hospital from where they were taken to the Fortis hospital at Noida where their condition is said to be critical.

A doctor said Anuj sustained six bullet wounds in his abdomen and thighs, while Deepak sustained four gunshot injuries in his chest and arms.

In the meantime, Kirpal Singh, an uncle of the two brothers, lodged a complaint with the police stating that Balvinder and Saurabh Gupta shot his nephews while Thakur was also an accomplice.

Sunil Kumar, the Station Officer (SO)- Kavi Nagar police station, said: "We have taken Balvinder into custody and are verifying the facts narrated in the first information report (FIR)."