Medicine store owner shot at, kin blame poor policing

LUCKNOW: A 35-year-old medicine store owner was shot at by unidentified miscreants on Thursday night. Mukesh Mishra was attacked when he was on his way home after closing his shop on 60-ft Road near

DPS

, Jankipuram. He sustained head injuries and was on ventilator when the last reports came in. Mukesh lives in

Jankipuram

with his wife Sarika. He has three elder brothers. One of them, Karunesh, also owns a medical store next to that of Mukesh's. In his complaint, Karunesh said that at 11.30 pm after closing his shop, he was on his way home when he saw commotion outside DPS, Jan kipuram. “I saw a car similar to that of my brother's so I stopped and saw Mukesh lying in a pool of blood. I called on `Dial 100' but got no response. Then I called Ambulance service on `108'. The ambulance took my brother to a private hospital from where he was referred to KGMU Trauma Centre,“ Karunesh said.At Trauma Centre, doctors found two bullet injuries, one on the head and the other on the left arm. The keys of Mukesh's shop and Rs 35,000 we re also missing

Jankipuram inspector Arun Mishra said a case of attempt to murder had been lodged against unidentified miscreants. “Mukesh seems to have been shot from the left, as the left side of the car window was found broken and he had injury on his left hand,“ said Mishra.

Dr Chhitij Srivastava of neurosurgery department, KGMU, said Mukesh's condition was unstable and he had suffered a cardiac arrest. The gunshot injury had ruptured multiple cells inside his head. Karunesh said Mukesh had no enemies and it must've been a loot case. His brother Rakesh alleged that police initially told them that it was an accident. “It was only when we called a senior IPS official, who is also a relative, that we got assistance,“ he said. Phone records showed that Mukesh had got a call at 11.22pm from an unknown number and was shot at soon after.

Chemists on sit-in

Hundreds of shopkeepers staged a sit-in in front of the Jankipuram police station on Friday in protest against the attack on Mukesh Mishra. “Last week, two thefts took place in shops on the same road, 60-ft Road, but police patrolling wasn't increased. “We demand arrests of those who attacked Mukesh,“ said Anil Singh of Jankipuram.