Three persons involved in killing eatery owner detained

Police today detained three of the four persons who allegedly shot dead a 60-year-old eatery owner in southeast Delhi's Lajpat Nagar area following a heated argument over payment of bill.
They were identified earlier in the day and were detained after police teams conducted raids at their hideouts in Delhi-NCR, a senior police official said.
Two police constables, who were deployed at a picket near the eatery, have been suspended for alleged inaction and a departmental inquiry has been initiated against them, the official said.
Vasudeo alias Pappu was allegedly shot at in his eatery around 10.15 PM on Monday in presence of several other customers, including two policemen who were not on duty. He died in the wee hours yesterday.

The victim's wife had passed away earlier this month and he is survived by his 16-year-old adopted son.
Being chased by the eatery staff, the accused fled from the spot taking advantage of darkness, as streetlights had stopped functioning in the area after the dust storm that evening, and dodging the two police officials deployed in a picket near the eatery.

The images of the assailants could not be captured by any of the CCTV cameras in the neighbourhood, largely because of the darkness. However, they were identified with the help of the registration number of the car in which they had fled, police said.

The investigators managed to take note of the car's registration number, except for two digits in the last four-digit part.
Police then acquired a list from Uttar Pradesh Transport Department (as the car had a UP registration number) with details on the same and shortlisted the car, the official added.