Union minister Kaushal Kishore’s son, Vikas Kishore has been booked under the Arms Act on Saturday after a man was shot dead at his residence and his licensed revolver was used as the weapon of the murder.
Vikas Kishore was in Delhi at the time when the victim, Vinay Srivastava, described as his friend, was shot in the head. Kaushal Kishore confirmed that the revolver used is a licensed weapon owned by his son.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Lucknow West) Rahul Raj told PTI, "On September 1, Vinay was killed at Vikas’s residence in which his licensed pistol was used. In this connection, a case has been registered against the licensee at Thakurganj police station under section 30 of the Arms Act (punishment for contravention of licence or rule),.".
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The land on which the house is built belongs to Kaushal Kishore, the Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs and BJP MP from Lucknow's Mohanlalganj constituency. But the house is yet to be registered, the minister's wife Jai Devi said.
Four men who stayed at the house invited Srivastava for dinner where an altercation took place, according to a complaint filed by the victim's brother.
The man was shot dead around 4 am, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Akash Kulhary told PTI.
The DC said the deceased had a single gunshot wound to his head.
What happened at Kaushal Kishore's residence?
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In the initial investigation, it was revealed that before the incident took place, Vinay, Ajay Rawat, Ankit Verma and Shamim alias Baba and two others identified as Saurabh Rawat and Arun Pratap Singh alias Bunty were playing cards for money and had alcohol.
The police informed the media that Vinay Srivastava had lost Rs 12,000 in gambling.
Reportedly, after some time, at the instruction of Ajay Rawat, Ankit Verma and Shamim alias Baba, Saurabh Rawat and Arun Pratap Singh took their win and left.
Vinay got angry at this and confronted the three with accusations of ganging up against him.
"Because of you, I have lost money, if the game was on, I would have won back the amount, Vinay had said," the police said in a statement. This led to a fight among them, blows were exchanged, and Vinay lost a button of his shirt in the fight, which enraged him, police said.
As the fight went on, Ankit took out the licensed revolver of the minister's son which was kept under a pillow. The three caught hold of Vinay, and Ankit shot him in his head, killing him immediately, the JCP (Crime) told the reporters.
The CCTV footage showed Saurabh Rawat and Arun Pratap Singh leaving the house before Vinay was shot, police said.
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Police recovered a .32 bore revolver, ammunition, a pack of cards and Rs 2,000 cash from the spot.
Kaushal Kishore said the gun is registered in his son's name who is currently in Delhi. He said his son's arm's licence was valid only in UP, that's why he did not take it with him.
"He left Lucknow for Delhi Thursday evening. He had left the gun at his house and police are investigating how the weapon was used in the incident and by whom," the minister said.
Kulhary added that the .32 bore revolver belonging to Vikas Kishore alias Ashu, was used in the crime, and police will start the process of cancelling his licence.
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Deputy Commissioner of Police Rahul Raj had earlier said the victim had a single gunshot wound to his head.
Vinay's brother in his complaint said Vinay had gone to Vikas Kishore's house Thursday night and had dinner there with Ajay Rawat, Ankit Verma, and Shamim alias Baba, who live there.
He also said that his brother was a friend of Vikas Kishore and he often used to stay at the house.
The Union minister is a second-term Lok Sabha MP from Mohanlalganj (SC) parliamentary constituency and was an MLA from 2002 to 2007. He was also a minister in the UP government from 2003 to 2004.
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(With PTI inputs)
