Two Property Dealers Shot Dead in UP's Greater Noida; Police Suspect Link of Old Rivalry

Two property dealers were shot dead at a residential society in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida with police suspecting a link to an old rivalry behind the act, officials said on Tuesday. The incident took place around 9 pm on Monday when the duo was sitting inside a car at the Ajnara Le Garden residential society in Greater Noida (West), they said.

Three people have been identified as key suspects in the episode, which the police said is linked to an old enmity between one of the deceased and a rival group that has claimed multiple lives. "Dalchand Sharma, 30, and Arun Tyagi, 22, were attacked by unidentified persons, who opened fire on them and fled. The two were severely injured and taken to a hospital but did not survive," an official from the local Bisrakh police station said.

Soon after the incident, in which multiple bullet rounds were fired at the victims, police personnel were deployed and searches launched to nab the assailants, the official said.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Noida, Ankur Aggarwal said, "We have obtained some footage from CCTV cameras and the process is on to arrest the suspects." According to police, the links of the case go back to 2011 and connected with Sharma, a native of a village in Haryana's Faridabad, who was currently out on bail in a murder case.

Sharma's father was the head of his village nine years ago and a rivalry ensued with another group because of the post. Sharma's brother and one more man from the village were killed in 2011 and the people accused of the murder were out on bail. One of these accused, Krishna, was killed in Mathura is 2017 and Sharma, along with some of his family members, was arrested but eventually got out on bail, police said. Sharma had moved to Panchsheel Green Society in the Bisrakh area of Greater Noida and was living with the name of Virat. He had got into property dealing and opened an office at the Ajnara Le Garden society, the site of his murder Monday night, police said.

An FIR has been lodged in the double murder cases based on a complaint by a Sharma's relative, who has named Sonu, Niranjan, Abhimanyu and some other people as accused, according to police. No arrest has been made yet and further probe is under way, police added.