Pleaded with people but no one helped, says eye witness

LUCKNOW: “The brothers kept pleading for their lives but they continued to beat them. I would also have suffered the same fate, had I not ran to get help,” said Nishant Shukla, a friend of Arman Ali, the younger of the two brothers who were shot dead by a group of men in Thakurganj area of Lucknow, on Wednesday night.

The trio was travelling in a cab that Arman and Nishant had recently taken on hire. Arman’s elder brother, Imran, was driving when the incident occurred.

“Three people on a motorcycle came in front of the car forcing us to stop. Imran opened the gate and stepped out, Arman followed him,” recollected Nishant, who was sitting in the back seat of the car.

“I also jumped out when I saw more people coming from behind with iron rods,” he added, his voice breaking.

“Imran told the attackers to talk to him and spare his younger brother but they started beating both of them and I rushed from the spot to alert their family members,” he recalled.

According to investigators, the accused attacked the brothers with wooden and iron rods for around 15 minutes and shot them dead when they tried to flee from there.

All this time, people kept on passing by. CCTV footage of the incident shows at least four people passing by, while three others were spotted coming out of their house.

“I pleaded with the people for help but nobody helped. By the time I returned, it was too late,” said Nishant.

The brothers were found lying in a pool of blood some 15 metres from their car.

They were rushed to hospital where doctors pronounced them dead.

Nishant lives in the same locality and was a close friend of Imran. The duo recently started driving a cab to earn money.

“We wanted to start a canteen together so we started driving the cab in shifts. One of us drove the cab during the day and other at the night,” Nishant said.

Asked if he knew the reason behind the attack he said, “I don’t know why they killed them. They were like brothers to me.”