One held for hiding pistol used in crime

LUCKNOW: Police on Sunday arrested Aditya Shukla, 24, for concealing the weapon used in the murder of a private varsity student Nishtha Tripathi, 23. Shukla was at large after hiding the weapon used in the killing.

Nishtha was shot dead by Aditya Pathak, an acquaintance she met just ten days back on Instagram, on Thursday. Police recovered the murder weapon, a .25 bore country-made pistol, from Janeshwar Mishra park in Lucknow's Gomtinagar on Friday. "Shukla is booked under 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of weapon)," said Aninday Vikram Singh, assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Vibhuti Khand. "Aditya, an engineering student and a resident of Deoria, was present on the night of the murder with prime accused Aditya Pathak at his Dayal Residency flat on Faizabad road. After the murder, he disposed of the weapon in bushes near Janeshwar Mishra Park which was recovered later by police," said Chinhat SHO Alok Kumar Rao.

According to police, during the interrogation, Shukla said that he was sleeping when he heard a gunshot at 3.30 am on September 21. He ran to Aditya Pathak's room and discovered Nishtha lying in a pool of blood. His other friends, Monu Pandit and Abhishek Nayak, were also there at the time of the incident. Aditya Pathak had asked everyone to come with him to the hospital.

"I was told to dispose of the pistol. After Nishtha was declared dead at the hospital, Aditya told us to say that she had killed herself," Shukla told police. He also said that he was not involved in the murder and that he only hid the pistol. He told the cops that he doesn't know whether Aditya Pathak shot the bullet, or it was fired by mistake. Police are also investigating the roles of weapon provider Aasif, who is in jail, and his friend Akhand Pratap Singh, both of whom are history sheeters.


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, Location Guesser and Mini Crossword.