ASO shot to death in Azad Mandi
A 53-year-old assistant security officer (ASO) of agricultural produce marketing committee (APMC) was shot dead allegedly by unidentified persons at the Azadpur Mandi, wholesale market for fruits and vegetables, early Wednesday.
Sources said that ASO Sumer Singh was killed by unidentified robbers who reportedly arrived at the wholesale market to commit an armed robbery.
The robbers mistook Mr Singh for a policeman and fired at him from behind. The bullet hit Mr Singh in the back of his head and he died on the spot.
Senior police officers said that they can neither confirm nor deny that mr Singh was murdered for preventing a robbery of theft at the Azadpur Mandi.
They have, however, not ruled out personal enmity angle as well. Nonetheless, teams of the northwest district police were apparently clueless about the killers’ identity and the motive behind the crime.
More than 30 people were present at the market when the firing took place. However, nobody could see who fired the bullet at Mr Singh.
Locals said that minutes before his murder the ASO had an argument with some of the truckers over theft of wares.
The Delhi government has requested the police to conduct an investigation into the murder, even as it announced a compensation of `10 lakh to Mr Singh’s family.
A wrestling champion from West Delhi’s Nangloi, Mr Singh was recruited in the APMC through sports quota.
He was posted as the ASO in Azadpur Mandi security and was doing night shift duty for the past two years. His job was to regulate traffic and control the movement of trucks entering and leaving the market during night and early morning hours.
A police officer said around 5 am, while performing his duty at the market, Mr Singh saw a group of men coming from the Azadpur railway station side and going towards a shed where the fruits were being packed in the wholesale market.
When Mr Singh accosted the group, one of them allegedly whipped out a pistol and pumped a bullet in Mr Singh’s head from behind. The group fled from the site of the incident, the police said.