Killer sent with ‘supari’ ends up shooting dead target’s lookalike

GREATER NOIDA: A sharpshooter hired to kill a man over personal enmity shot dead a 35-year-old government contractor instead in a case of mistaken identity. Anit, a member of the dreaded Anil Dujana gang, had been hired to kill one Awadesh. Instead, he shot Neeraj, a contractor with the horticulture department, because he “looked like Awadesh”.

The murder took place on February 5. Police came to know about the goof-up after they interrogated Anit, who was seen on CCTV on the day of the murder.

Two of the men who were with Anit on the day of the murder were arrested on Wednesday. They had also stolen a Renault Duster, which they used during the crime. The murder, police said, traces its roots to an argument between two Class IX students in a Greater Noida village. Subodh, the brother of one of the students, had hired Anit to murder Awadesh, the father of the other student.

According to the police, Anit has at least 15 cases of heinous crimes against him. He is from Junpat village in Surajpur area of Greater Noida. Along with him on February 5 were Subodh Bhati, a resident of Pali village, and Sonu, from Bulandshahr. They were joined by another man named Ankit, an Itawa resident who helped them steal the car and is absconding.

While Anit had been arrested earlier, Subodh and Sonu were picked up from Kasna around 4.30am from Kasna. The murder, too, had taken place in Kasna. “CCTV footage was the biggest clue in this case. After identifying Anit in the footage, we searched for him and found that on February 6, he had surrendered in the district court and was sent to jail. We sought his remand and started questioning him. That is when he confessed to the murder and that three other men were with him in the conspiracy. They planned to kill a man named Awadesh, who had an enmity with Subodh, but ended up shooting Neeraj. They have been booked for murder and criminal conspiracy,” police chief Vaibhav Krishna said.

The officer added that the four men had stolen a Duster from a Kasna-based architect on February 3. “On February 5, they had information that Awadesh is standing near Evergreen Sweets with his friends. That’s when Subodh, Sonu, and Anit reached the spot in the car. Subodh stayed in the vehicle while Anit and Sonu went up to Neeraj and shot him in the head. They later realised they had shot the wrong man,” Krishna said.

Asked about the enmity, the SSP said: “Subodh’s younger brother and Awadesh’s son had an altercation in school in which their guardians, too, joined. Subodh allegedly hatched the plan of murder with his friends because Awadesh had allegedly given death threats to him,” Krishna said.