New Delhi: A heated argument on road led to the killing of a 40-year-old cabbie in South Delhi’s Kotla Mubarak area in the early hours yesterday, reported Police.
The cabbie identified as Umesh Sharma was a resident of Sangam vihar. He is survived with three children aged around 7, 2 and a five-year-old son and his wife. He was allegedly shot dead by one of the four occupants of a Honda city over the right way in South Delhi, but the police refused to name the suspects, for the time being, HT reported.
The CCTV footage recovered from the crime scene clearly shows the car but the number plate of the vehicle is not clear.
“The number plate of the car was not captured clearly but we have shortlisted a few possible numbers,” Vijay Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (south), said.
Umesh was with his friend Hemant during the incident. Umesh stopped by the market to have snacks with his friend and parked his Wagnor car on the side of the 20-feet wide road passing through the market. It was when one silver-coloured Honda City passing by his parked car scraped past the side mirror to which Umesh objected.
“When my brother objected to the hit, the other car’s occupants abused him and asked him to move his car from the spot. An argument ensued, during which a tall, bearded man emerged from the rear seat of the Honda City, pulled out a pistol and shot my brother in the chest without warning,” Hemant’s brother Surender said.
The CCTV footage shows the silver coloured car fleeing the crime scene through the narrow lanes. The police are now on the lookout for the silver car.
Meanwhile, Hemant made efforts to rush Umesh to a nearby hospital but Umesh was declared brought dead by the hospital.
The DCP confirmed that alleged murder was over the right of way. “The occupants of the Honda City wanted Umesh to remove his car. The argument leading to the alleged murder was triggered by that,” the DCP said.
“He has been unable to help us. At one point he claimed he had earphones plugged in at the time of the crime,” the DCP added.
The Kotla Mubarakpur police have lodged a murder case and are probing the matter.
“The suspects were carrying a gun at the time of the murder. They are likely to have a criminal past,” an investigator said.
While Ola spokesperson responding to the incident said: “We are deeply saddened to hear about the tragic death of our driver partner. We will be extending our support to the police authorities to help them in the investigation.”