A 20-year-old woman was shot dead outside her college by two men in broad daylight during an abduction bid in Ballabgarh here on Monday. Both the accused have been arrested.
Nikita, a B.Com Final Year student, had gone to college in the afternoon for an examination and was accosted by the duo when she came out from the premises. The closed circuit television (CCTV) footage of the incident shows one of the accused, with his face covered, trying to push her inside a white car, but she is seen offering stiff resistance. A woman passer-by tried to intervene to help her, but the man shot Nikita point-blank with a country-made pistol and drove away with his friend in the car. The incident took place on the road outside the college in full public view.
Nikita was taken to a private hospital and died during treatment. She was a resident of Sanjay Colony in Sector 23 in Faridabad.
Her brother, Naveen, in the First Information Report (FIR), identified one of the assailants as Tausheef. He said the accused had been harassing his sister for long and bore a grudge against her.
The family was informed about the incident by one of their relatives over phone around 3.30 p.m.
Tausheef, a resident of Gurugram’s Sohna, was arrested late on Monday night after a five-hour-long search operation across three districts, including Faridabad and Palwal. His friend Rehan, a resident of Nuh, was arrested on Tuesday. Both arrests were made from Nuh.
Faridabad Police Commissioner O. P. Singh said a case had been registered against Tausheef in 2018 for kidnapping Nikita, but her family later gave an affidavit to withdraw it. He said the matter was transferred to the Crime Branch and a Special Investigation Team was constituted for thorough investigation.
Mr. Singh said the police were serious about ensuring maximum punishment to the accused and all evidence, including forensic and digital, would be gathered during the course of the investigation to build a strong case. He said there was CCTV footage of the incident, and also eye-witnesses to the murder.
Nikita’s family blocked the road during the day on Tuesday to demand justice.