A 14-year-old Muslim boy was shot dead on Saturday night in East Delhi’s Shahdara after he bent down to pick up currency notes thrown during a wedding procession. The accused, head constable Madan Gopal Tiwari, who was posted with the CISF in Kanpur, allegedly lost his temper, slapped the boy several times, and then shot him in the head.
S*, who lived with his family in the slums of Natthu Colony, had gone to watch the procession with his younger brother and friends after finishing his shift at a local grocery shop. “Some of the boys got scared and ran back home and he got left behind,” said his brother-in-law, Tabrez Alam.
Eyewitnesses told the family that S* had asked the man why he was being beaten. “The man got so angry that the boy talked back to him that he pulled out a gun and shot him in the head,” said Alam. S* collapsed instantly. He was rushed to Dr Hedgewar Hospital but was declared dead on arrival.
His younger brother was the one who ran home to tell the family what had happened. S*’s mother, Nisha, said her son had begun working to support the family after his father suffered a paralytic attack. “He was coming home after work… he was just lured by the notes and the celebrations,” she said, adding that the notes he picked up were fake.
S*’s father, Sirajuddin Ansari, said the family had struggled ever since he lost the use of his left arm. “He was taken out of school and put to work. He would say he wanted to give us a better life,” he said. The boy earned ₹6,000 a month for an eleven-hour shift at a local store.
Police registered a murder case and formed a team to trace the accused. On Sunday morning, they arrested Tiwari in Etawah and recovered the pistol used in the crime. DCP Prashant Gautam said the post-mortem would be conducted and the investigation is ongoing. “We are questioning the accused and trying to find out if anyone else was involved. All facts will come out soon,” he said.
Investigators also said the accused appeared to have “anger issues” and was the groom’s paternal cousin. S* is survived by his three brothers and three sisters.
