Tea shop owner killed in poultry farm robbery

GHAZIABAD: A 50-year-old tea vendor was shot dead when he allegedly came in the line of fire during a robbery in Ghaziabad on Wednesday. Police said the incident took place at a poultry farm in Loni at 12 noon.

The deceased has been identified as Babu, who owns a teashop adjacent to the poultry farm. The bike-borne assailants stole Rs 2.5 lakh from the farm before fleeing the spot.

According to police, the farm owner’s brother, Mallu, and the accountant, Imran, were present at the spot during the incident. “These two persons were checking the account books of the farm when the assailants arrived. They opened fire on the two. The tea vendor, who was present at the spot, was shot. The exact number of shots fired could not be ascertained. We are also trying to verify the total number of people who arrived at the farm, though initial investigations reveal there were four persons in all,” said a police officer.

A complaint was later filed at Loni police station by Kamman Chaudhary, the owner of the poultry farm.

An FIR has been lodged under Sections 302 (murder) and 394 (voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) of the IPC.

Police said the body of the victim has been sent for postmortem.