New Delhi, Jul 16 (IANS): Lakshya Nagpal, 40, was walking to his central Delhi home on Friday evening by the side of an e-rickshaw, carrying belongings of a relative who had just vacated his office and asked him to keep the stuff with him. Just as he reached the HDFC Bank in East Patel Nagar, he heard a gunshot and before he could realise what happened, found himself lying in a pool of blood.

He was hit in the leg by the pillion rider on a bike, and the assailants fled on seeing him fall. All Nagpal could do was catch a glimpse of his silver helmet-wearing assailant.

The injured Nagpal suspected involvement of Vishal Sharma, his former brother-in-law who had divorced his sister last year and had recently threatened to shoot him. Later, the Delhi Police filed an attempt to murder case and began its investigation.

The movements of Sharma, a tattoo artist, in last one month, confirmed his involvement in the crime as suspected by the victim. Sharma's account statement revealed that immediately after the incident on July 10, cash withdrawals were made at ATMs in Murthal in Haryana's Sonepat district, leading to suspicion that the assailants had escaped to Haryana and Punjab after commission of the crime.

On the basis of technical surveillance, police identified two men - Akshay and Guddu - involved in the incident, and they were subsequently apprehended. In the search operation that followed, the silver helmet worn by the assailant was recovered from their car, along with ammunition. The bike used in the crime was purchased on OLX on that very day.

Sharma, along with his friend Ramdev, was then arrested from a hotel in Dwarka.

But what was the motive?

"Interrogation of the arrested accused revealed that accused Sharma, who was doing a business of modelling, tattooing and gold jewellery export, came in contact with Nagpal's sister and both were married around five years back. Though they had a daughter, their marriage ended as they divorced in September 2019. After the divorce, Sharma became frustrated as he wanted to keep their daughter, now aged four, and as per him, his ex-wife wanted to snatch her from him. First, he wanted to eliminate his ex-wife but failed to track her and instead, decided to shoot her brother to scare her," DCP, Central, Sanjay Bhatia said.