In an early morning development, a man was shot dead at the residence of Union Minister and BJP MP Kaushal Kishore in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow on Friday (September 1), the police said.
The deceased, identified as Vinay Shrivastava, was said to be close to the Minister and his son Vikas Kishore. The incident took place at the residence of the BJP MP's residence at around 4.15 am today.
Reacting to the incident, the Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs claimed that his son was not present at home at the time of the incident.
"Who was there at the residence, I do not know as my son was not at home, he was in Delhi yesterday," the BJP MP said.
The Union Minister said that the police will conduct an investigation into the incident and those involved will be punished.
"The body has been sent for post-mortem, the truth will come out. A probe would be carried out. The guilty will be brought to task. We are with the family of the deceased. Vinay has been close to us. The police will conduct an investigation into the matter," he said.
The Minister said that his son travelled to New Delhi via flight yesterday evening and has been in the national capital since then.
"I don't know how the incident took place. The police are investigating the matter. Whosoever will be found guilty in the police probe will be punished. Vikas Kishore was travelling from Lucknow to Delhi on a flight at 4.50 pm yesterday," he said.
Kishore said that all those who were present on the spot during the crime have been apprehended and are being questioned by the police.
"The police have apprehended all those present there and are interrogating them. The pistol belonged to Vikas. How did they get it, they will be able to tell it. The CCTV footage has been shared with the police. The police will share whatever comes up in the investigation. The deceased body has been taken for post-mortem. Vikas was extremely sad when he got to know about this, the deceased Vinay was a very good friend of my son. All of them were friends with each other," he said.
Minister's son shares picture, flight ticket details
The Minister's son Vikas, whose friend was shot dead, shared a picture of himself with another friend in the flight. He also shared the boarding pass of the IndiGo flight dated August 31 with a departure time of 4.50 pm.
Brother of deceased reacts
Vikas Shrivastava, brother of the deceased, alleged that the three friends of his brother who were there during the occurrence of crime killed him.
"My brother Vinay Shrivastava has been killed at the residence of Union minister Kaushal Kishore. My brother was a friend of his son Vikas Kishore. Three people were present there when the incident took place. If they did not stop him (brother), then they have killed him. There must have been a scuffle with my brother after which the firing has been done. I don't have any idea where was Vikas Kishore when the incident took place. His licensed revolver was recovered by police from the spot," he said.
What did the police say?
The police said that a pistol has been recovered from the crime spot. They said that the CCTV camera is also installed and will be analysed.
"A man named Vinay Shrivastav has been shot dead. There is a head injury. There were some people with him. They had dinner at night and then the incident took place. A pistol has been recovered. The pistol is said to belong to Vikas Kishore. A forensic team is on the job and an investigation is being done. CCTV camera is also installed and will be analysed. The family of the deceased has lodged a complaint and a case has been registered," a top police official said.
