Meerut youth's murder caught on video, main accused arrested after encounter

Meerut (UP), Oct 3 (PTI) Days after a video showing a youth being shot dead here surfaced on social media, police said they arrested the main accused after an encounter on Friday evening.

The purported video showed the assailants knocking the victim to the ground before firing multiple rounds at him.

According to police, the victim's body was recovered on Wednesday morning near a tubewell along a forest pathway in Meerut's Narhada village.

The deceased was identified as 25-year-old Adil alias Rehan, a resident of Radhna Wali Gali who worked as a clothes seller, police said.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Adil was called out of his home on Tuesday afternoon by two friends, Jul Qamar and Hamza. The accused took him to the forest, knocked him down and shot him dead with a pistol, they said.

Police said a joint police team arrested Jul Qamar on Friday following an exchange of fire in Phaphunda area.

An encounter began when Qamar and his accomplice Hamza, riding a motorcycle, fired upon a police checking team. Qamar, who was injured in retaliatory firing, was arrested but Hamza managed to flee, they said.

A pistol and ammunition from Qamar's possession. A search has been launched to nab Hamza, officials said.

They said the motive behind the murder is not yet been established.

Superintendent of Police (City) Ayush Vikram Singh told PTI that when the video came to the notice of police, teams were formed to identify the men seen in it. PTI COR KIS CDN RUK RUK