Eatery owner, son shot dead, 1 accused held

New Delhi: A 57-year-old dhaba owner and his 26-year-old son were shot dead by four men in Outer Delhi’s Najafgarh area on Wednesday night, allegedly over the positioning of an air cooler installed in the dhaba.

The police has registered an FIR and has apprehended one of the accused. The victims have been identified as Shyam Verma and his son Mayank. The incident took place around 9.30 pm at their eatery, Sangeeta Dhaba. When a waiter was serving food to a group of men, one of them changed the direction of the air cooler towards them, complaining of heat. At this, other customers also asked the waiter to turn the air cooler towards them.

“Mayank asked one of the waiters to restore the direction of the cooler as other customers were feeling hot as well. This infuriated the accused and they started fighting with Mayank,” a waiter said.

Other waiters in the dhaba tried to intervene. However, all of sudden one of them took out a pistol and shot Mayank in his neck, following which he collapsed. Soon after, the attackers tried to escape. Meanwhile, Shyam rushed forward to catch them, but they shot at him too.

“They fired two-three shots and one hit him (Shyam) on his forehead. He died on the spot and the attackers fled from the spot on their motorcycles,” said an eyewitness.

A staff from the dhaba called up an ambulance and informed the police about the incident. Mayank was rushed to Venkateshwar Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries during treatment on Thursday morning.

Deputy commissioner of police (Outer) M.N. Tiwari said that one of the accused, Kareem Khan, was apprehended on Thursday.

“All of them have been identified. A hunt is on to nab the rest. Kareem Khan claims that he didn’t shoot the father and son duo, although he was present among the four accused,” he said.