BJP worker shot dead inside showroom in Gurugram

Gurugram: A local BJP leader was gunned down in full view of the public on Thursday by armed assailants in a clothes showroom in the Sadar Bazaar area.

The son of the deceased, who was also a vice president of the Sohna market committee, accused one of his relatives and his companions of the murder, police said.

According to police, the assailants were captured in the CCTV cameras installed in the Raymond showroom where the killing took place. Footage showed five assailants, two of them wearing black t-shirts, one white check shirt, another cap, and one red shirt, leaving the showroom after allegedly gunning down their victim.

Four of them wore masks, while the fifth had his face hiding behind a white towel, police said.

The deceased was identified as Sukhbir Khatana alias Sukhi, a resident of Rithoj village, they said. He lived in Maruti Kunj, Bhondsi.

The incident happened around 3.20 pm when Khatana reached the Raymond Showroom on Gurudwara Road with his friend Rajender in a Kia car. They parked the car near the showroom and went inside to shop. “Sukhbir bought some clothes and made the payment through a card. In the meantime, four-five armed men barged into the showroom and opened indiscriminate fire at Sukhbir,” Rajender, an eyewitness and the friend who accompanied Khatana inside the showroom, told PTI.

“After firing several shots, the accused fled away,” he said.

A critically injured Khatana was rushed to nearby Aarvi hospital where doctors declared him “brought dead.” A police team led by DCP (West) Deepak Saharan examined the spot with the help of the Forensic Science Lab and a crime scene team.

Sources said that Khatana was close to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and was preparing to contest the Zila Parishad election from Sohna.

According to his Facebook account, Khatana was an RSS worker. Three hours before the murder he had updated his profile picture on the social media site. Chaman, a brother-in-law of Khatana, shot him dead with his associates, alleged Khatana’s son Anurag in his complaint, police said.

Chaman and others were booked under sections 302 (murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and section 25-54-59 of the arms act at Civil Lines Police Station.

The postmortem will be done Friday, said police. “We have formed special teams including the crime unit team which are conducting raids in search of the accused. ”Most of the accused have been identified and they will be arrested as early as possible,” said Saharan.