Receptionist shot dead in city hotel, 2 girls among 5 held

LUCKNOW: A 20-year-old male receptionist was shot dead by two youths in a Vibhuti Khand hotel here in the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kalanidhi Naithani said the assailants had come to meet a Delhi girl staying in the Sara Grand Hotel and opened fire when the receptionist refused to allow them to meet her.

On a complaint of the victim’s mother, police have registered an FIR of murder against five people, including two girls Gurmeet Kaur and Ruby Ansari, and three youths Dheeraj Narang, Abhay Singh and Hari Om, at the Vibhuti Khand police.

Police said the girls were allegedly members of an online friendship club.

Naithani said the two girls and Dheeraj Narang, associates of assailants Abhay Singh and Hari Om, had been arrested. Later in the evening, the two assailants were also arrested.

He said one of the girls was staying in the Sara Grand Hotel while the other girl and the three youths were staying in another hotel -- Shubh-Inn hotel.

The SSP said the deceased, Krishna Pratap Singh aka Roshan of Pratapgarh, who was working in the hotel for past few months, had suffered a gunshot near his right armpit and the bullet pierced through his body.

He said Roshan died on the spot.

He said the entire incident was captured in the two CCTV cameras installed at the entrance ot eh hotel and the reception.

He said the CCTV footages show the youths entered the hotel at 1.49 am and shot dead Roshan at around 1.52 am after a brief conversation at the reception counter.

The SSP said the police response vehicle of UP 100 reached the spot at around 2.10 am after getting a call from one of the hotel employees.