Lucknow: Man shot after fight over entry into hotel

LUCKNOW: A receptionist at a Gomtinagar hotel was shot dead on Saturday for not allowing a man to meet his online female friend in her room. The man, identified as Dheeraj Narang of

Uttarakhand

, and his two online female friends Gurmeet of New Delhi and Ruby of Ghaziabad were arrested, while the two shooters Abhay Singh and Hari Om, who had been called by Narang, had absconded but were arrested with an aide Radhey after an encounter on Saturday night. Police had been tracking Abhay’s movement through surveillance.


“Around 11.30pm, we came to know that they were going towards Dewa road. A team was dispatched to arrest them. They started firing but soon ran out of ammunition and surrendered,” said SHO Chinhat Anand Shahi. A .32 bore pistol used in the murder was also recovered.

Narang, Gurmeet and Ruby were online friends who had to come to Lucknow for ‘meeting’.

The deceased receptionist, Krishnakant Pratap Singh (22) was a native of Pratapgarh.

Narang came to Lucknow on December 5 and checked into a hotel in Visheshkhand with Ruby, posing as husband and wife. Gurmeet arrived on Friday and checked into another hotel at a walking distance in the locality at around 4.15pm.

Narang went to visit Gurmeet at around 10.40pm, but the receptionist did not let him go to her room saying that visitors are not allowed after 10pm.

“When Narang informed Gurmeet on WhatsApp group, she asked him to find a way out. Narang requested Singh but he did not budge. Narang left but Ruby started teasing him for his failure. Annoyed on being mocked, Narang called Abhay and Hari Om,” said police. They communicated through WhatsApp audio messages which are now in possession of police.

At 1.30am on Saturday, Narang again went to the hotel with Abhay and Hari Om but the receptionist stopped him, leading to a spat. In a fit of rage, Abhay fired four shots at Singh from a country-made pistol. Two bullets got jammed, the third hit a door, but the fourth hit him in chest, said police.

The incident was captured in CCTV camera. “The CCTV footage and WhatsApp audio messages corroborate the sequence of events,” said SSP Lucknow Kalanidhi Naithani.

The hotel staff informed police which rushed Singh to RML hospital where he was declared brought dead. The doctors said that the bullet punctured his heart and was found in his rib cage.

SSP said that Narang, a dealer of surgical instruments, Abhay and Hari Om were arrested on charges of murder, while the two women have been booked for instigation.

Friendship club on

WhatsApp: The accused were members of an online friendship group on WhatsApp. They had met on Facebook and then created a WhatsApp group.


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