Youth dies in ‘celebratory firing’ at house party

Ghaziabad: A man in his 20s died after he was allegedly hit by a stray bullet fired at a stag party at his friend’s house in Sahibabad late on Tuesday. Three of his friends, including the one who had thrown the party and was to get ma-rried on Wednesday, have been arrested.
Police said all the men involved were drunk at the time of the incident and fled after admitting the injured man, Suraj Rai, to hospital.
Himanshu Sharma (26) had invited his friends Suraj, Hari Om Tyagi and Abhishek Tyagi — all in their 20s — to his house for the party the night before his wedding. “At the party, they all consumed liquor and danced,” Sahibabad circle officer Alok Dubey said. “Around 11pm, Hari Om suddenly whipped out his licensed revolver and started firing in the air randomly. One of the bullets hit Suraj in the stomach and he fell unconscious,” he added.
The others panicked and rushed Suraj to several hospitals before finally getting him admitted to a private hospital in Vaishali, after which they fled, the circle officer added. The hospital contacted police, and cops informed his family. “Suraj died due to excessive bleeding during treatment. We contacted his family and they told us that he had gone to a party with his friends,” Dubey said.
Suraj’s brother Abhishek told TOI that he had left home after he got a call from Himanshu inviting him to the party. “We later got a call from police saying he had been injured. When we reached the hospital, we were told that he had passed away. It was much later that we came to know that he was hit by a bullet fired by Hari Om. Had his friends told us earlier, Suraj might have been saved. They tried to hide it and didn’t inform us, leaving him unattended at the hospital,” Abhishek said.
With the identity of the accused unclear, police relied on CCTV footage from the hospital. “We identified them after scanning the footage and arrested Himanshu, Hari Om and Abhishek from their homes by Wednesday noon,” Dubey said.
The three have been booked under Section 304 (death by negligence) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Arms Act at Sahibabad police station based on a complaint by Suraj’s father. The trio apparently told police that the bullet fired by Hari Om accidentally hit Suraj as they were all drunk.