Business rivalry behind the attack, say police; assailants wanted victims to remove stall from airport.
In what appears to be a clash over business location, a group of people opened firing on another at RTO circle near Subhash bridge in early hours of Sunday. Two people sustained injuries in the firing and have been admitted in Civil hospital.
Reports said Ramavtar Prajapati, 27, a resident of Nava Vadaj, along with his four brothers in-law -- Srikant, Ashok, Satish and Mukesh - was returning from airport area after closing his business when he was attacked allegedly by Munna Singh Kuswah, his nephew and 10 others.
The assailants opened three rounds of fire on Prajapti and his family.
Police said it prima facie appeared that Kuswah attacked Prajapati as the two had dispute over the site of business. Preliminary reports said both Prajapati and Kuswah are small-time traders and sell chana jor garam (a kind of snack) near Ahmedabad airport. They usually start work at 6:30 in the evening and close their business at around 3:30 in morning.
On November 22, at 4 am, Prajapati and his four brothers in-law were returning home in a rickshaw when they heard a loud noise from behind. A startled Prajapati looked at his hand and realised that blood was gushing out of his hand. The shocked driver stopped his rickshaw.
Suddenly, two rickshaws appeared on the scene from nowhere and were positioned near Prajapati's rickshaw. The assailants first shot Srikant in the stomach and then dragged Mukesh out of the rickshaw. He was beaten up by pipes, iron rods and hockey sticks.
The victims started running towards their house which was nearby. The assailants, however, chased them and fired at them again.
Prajapati and his relatives started shouting. Their screams woke up the residents of the area and they rushed to their rescue.
After the initial investigation, Sabarmati police found that the two groups had small businesses of selling 'chana jor garam' at the airport. Kuswah allegedly did not want a business rival and he planned to scare Prajapati and family out of the venue.
Police said three rounds of fire were opened and two people received gunshots. Police said the firing was made from a pistol and have found one 8mm bullet shells from the scene.
The accused are on the run and Sabarmati police is investigating the case further.
No police patrol in the area?Interestingly, while the assault on Prajapati and his relatives continued on for about an hour, police were completely unaware of all the happenings. It was only when the victims were rushed to Civil hospital, the police were informed. Satish Sharma, JCP, Sector 1, along with his team reached the location and recorded statements from the residents of the area as well as the victims. Prajapati and his relatives told police they were fired at by Kuswah and his men, all residents of Motera.
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