Man held for shooting son over ‘supari’ suspicion

Meerut: A day after 32-year-old property dealer Tushar Tyagi was found shot dead inside his SUV near Panchi underpass in Meerut’s Kharkhoda area, police claimed to have cracked the case with the arrest of his father, Sunder Tyagi, 57, and an associate, Amit alias Vedwan, saying the father suspected his son of hiring a contract killer for Rs 10 lakh to get him killed.

Tushar, a resident of Doyami village in Hapur district, had left home around 8pm on Monday and later called his wife, Shikha Tyagi, claiming that he had been kidnapped. Around midnight, a call was received on Dial-112 that he had been shot near Panchi underpass, after which police and senior officers reached the spot and found him dead inside the vehicle with bullet wounds on his forehead and neck.

SP, rural, Abhijeet Kumar said police from Kharkhoda police station and rural SWAT team solved the murder within 24 hours. “During investigation, police found that Tushar’s father Sunder Tyagi suspected his son of planning to get him killed by hiring a contract killer for Rs 10 lakh. The suspicion led him to hatch a conspiracy with an associate. Police from Thana Kharkhoda, along with the rural SWAT team, solved the Tushar murder case within 24 hours, arresting the main accused Sunder Tyagi and one accomplice on Tuesday night,” Kumar said.

Police said a murder case under BNS section 103(1) was registered at Kharkhoda police station on the complaint of Shikha Tyagi. Teams then analysed technical intelligence, CCTV footage, scientific evidence and physical clues from the crime scene, while the forensic team also examined the SUV and the area where it was found abandoned.

Investigators said Sunder had travelled from Dehradun to Kankarkheda on the day of the murder and then moved toward the Doyami-Kaili area with Amit alias Vedwan. Police said Amit was seen buying beer cans from a liquor outlet in Kaili Dheerkheda, and CCTV footage later showed Tushar’s Scorpio and the accused’s vehicle moving together, helping officers reconstruct the route and narrow down the suspects.

During questioning, police said, it emerged that Sunder was inside Tushar’s Scorpio when the shooting took place. “The accused shot Tushar inside the vehicle and later abandoned him along with the SUV near Panchi underpass before fleeing,” a police source said, adding that Sunder allegedly confessed to the crime during interrogation.

Police were also examining whether a land dispute formed part of the motive, as local inputs suggested tension in the family over property and business plans. Officers said the murder appeared to have followed a mix of suspicion, family dispute and alleged fear of a contract killing, though they were still verifying all claims made during interrogation.

Sunder is a former history-sheeter of Hapur Dehat police station and has several cases registered against him, including murder and other serious offences, police sources said. Amit alias Vedwan was also arrested, while police said the role of others named or suspected in the case was still being examined and had not been ruled out.

The case had initially appeared to be an abduction and murder after Tushar’s wife told police that he had called saying he was being taken away and threatened. Police said that angle was examined, but technical evidence and CCTV footage shifted the probe towards the father and his associate. Further investigation is underway.