A gym trainer and a passer-by were shot dead in north-east Delhi’s Jyoti Nagar on Wednesday night, the police said. Three persons have been arrested in connection with the case, they said.

DCP (North East) Atul Thakur said the victims have been identified as Govinda (35) and Akash (28) and the accused as Aman, Ashu and Ankit — all of them are 19-year-olds. Three other accused, who have been identified, are absconding, Mr. Thakur said.

At 10.30 p.m., Govinda was returning from the gym with his friends on a bike when the accused fired at him.

“Akash was passing by when the bullet hit him. He died on the spot,” the officer said. The absconding accused, Anil, and Govinda had a fight in 2016, the officer added.

“Anil is a bad character and has an attempt to murder case registered against him. Govinda also has a case of causing hurt against him based on the complaint by Anil. Whenever they met in court, they would argue. Anil then planned to eliminate Govinda,” the officer said.

Anil roped in his friend Ashu who further called other four accused. Ashu shot at Govinda using the weapon given by Anil, the police said.

The accused then went separate ways and were told by Anil that they won’t be involved in police investigation. “The three of them were arrested from their suspected hideout in Meerut,” the officer said.

Akash’s family said he worked as a salesman in Seelampur and was coming from a friend’s house when the incident happened. “My brother had gone to meet his friend. When he was coming back, he saw a man being shot at. He then started running when the accused probably thought that he is also with the victim. They shot shot him twice,” said Akash’s brother Vinod.