Man shot dead after brawl during card game at Union minister's UP home, 3 held

Three persons have been arrested in connection with the killing of a 30-year-old man, who was shot dead at the house of Union minister Kaushal Kishore early Friday morning following a brawl during a game of cards, police said.

The minister's son, Vikas Kishore, who lives in the house, was in Delhi at the time, when his friend Vinay Srivastava was shot in the head by his other friends.

The revolver used in the crime was a licensed weapon owned by Vikas Kishore, according to his father.

The land on which the house is built belongs to Kaushal Kishore, the Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs and Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Lucknow's Mohanlalganj (SC) constituency. But the house is yet to be registered, said Jai Devi, the minister's wife.

Jai Devi is a BJP MLA from Malihabad (SC) assembly constituency.

The three men -- Ajay Rawat, Ankit Verma, and Shamim alias Baba -- had invited Vinay Srivastava for a dinner at the minister's residence, where an altercation took place in the course of gambling, according to a complaint filed by the victim's brother.

Vinay Srivastava was shot dead around 4 am, joint commissioner of police (crime) Akash Kulhary told PTI.

In the initial investigation, it was revealed that before the incident took place, Vinay, Ajay Rawat, Ankit Verma and Shamim alias Baba and two others identified as Saurabh Rawat and Arun Pratap Singh alias Bunty were playing cards for money and had had alcohol.

According to the police, Vinay Srivastava had lost Rs 12,000 in gambling.

After some time, at the instruction of Ajay Rawat, Ankit Verma and Shamim alias Baba, Saurabh Rawat and Arun Pratap Singh took their win and left.

Vinay got angry at this and confronted the three with accusations of ganging up against him.

"Because of you, I have lost money, if the game was on, I would have won back the amount, Vinay had said," the police said in a statement. This led to a fight among them, blows were exchanged, and Vinay lost a button of his shirt in the fight, which enraged him, the police said.

As the fight went on, Ankit took out the licensed revolver of the minister's son which was kept under a pillow. The three caught hold of Vinay, and Ankit shot him in his head, killing him immediately, the JCP (Crime) told the reporters.

The CCTV footage showed Saurabh Rawat and Arun Pratap Singh leaving the house before Vinay was shot, the police said.

The police recovered a .32 bore revolver, ammunition, a pack of cards and Rs 2,000 cash from the spot.

Kaushal Kishore said the gun is registered in his son's name who is currently in Delhi.

He said his son's arm's licence was valid only in UP, that's why he did not take it with him.

"He left Lucknow for Delhi on Thursday evening. He had left the gun at his house and the police are investigating how the weapon was used in the incident and by whom," the minister said.

Kulhary added that the .32 bore revolver belonging to Vikas Kishore alias Ashu, was used in the crime, and police will start the process of cancelling his licence.

The Union minister is a second term Lok Sabha MP from Mohanlalganj (SC) parliamentary constituency and was an MLA from 2002 to 2007. He was also a minister in the UP government from 2003 to 2004.

Deputy commissioner of police Rahul Raj had earlier said the victim had a single gunshot wound to his head.

Vinay's brother in his complaint said Vinay had gone to Vikas Kishore's house Thursday night and had dinner there with Ajay Rawat, Ankit Verma, and Shamim alias Baba, who live there.

He also said that his brother was a friend of Vikas Kishore and he often used to stay at the house.